Rewards for replacements as Ireland rotate forwards

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Rugby Union – Six Nations Championship – Scotland v Ireland – BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Britain – February 9, 2019 Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland are resting several forwards but named the same back line that overcame Scotland last time out for Sunday’s Six Nations clash against Italy at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.

Coach Joe Schmidt said he was giving the weekend off to several forwards, including captain Rory Best, and rewarding hard work in training by changing four in the pack from the team that started the 22-13 away win over Scotland.

Hooker Sean Cronin, at the age of 32, will be making his first Six Nations start as he replaces Best while, also in the front row, Dave Kilcoyne comes in for Cian Healy.

Ultan Dillane replaces James Ryan at lock with Jordi Murphy coming in for Jack Conan at the back of the scrum.

“We have a few guys rotated out and an opportunity is being offered to reward the effort we have seen in training,” he told a news conference in Dublin on Friday.

Cronin has made all of his 32 appearances in the Six Nations off the bench but finally gets to play from the kick off.

“I’m sure Sean is excited. He has trained well and hopefully that gives him the confidence to go, step up and do a very good job,” Schmidt said.

“He has 10 other starts for us, and the amount of times he has come off the bench and been involved in really important wins for us, why not bring that from the start?

“It’s a great chance for him.”

Munster front row pair Niall Scannell and Jack McGrath were named on the bench as cover.

Back-up flyhalf Jack Carty is in line to make his debut as he was named among the replacement backs after Joey Carbery picked up a knock in training.

Team: 15-Rob Kearney, 14-Keith Earls, 13-Chris Farrell, 12-Bundee Aki, 11-Jacob Stockdale, 10-Jonathan Sexton, 9-Conor Murray, 8-Jordi Murphy, 7-Sean O’Brien, 6-Peter O’Mahony (captain), 5-Quinn Roux, 4-Ultan Dillane, 3-Tadhg Furlong, 2-Sean Cronin, 1-Dave Kilcoyne

Replacements: 16-Niall Scannell, 17-Jack McGrath, 18-John Ryan, 19-Iain Henderson, 20-Josh van der Flier, 21-John Cooney, 22-Jack Carty, 23-Andrew Conway.

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