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Ireland makes six changes, some applied and the rest for tactical or form reasons. Bundee Aki is at the center of the injured Gary Ringrose, while James Lowe’s convincing impression of a man not suited to this level of rugby has been fooled by Farrell and former prodigy Jacob Stockdale regains his spot on the wing.
In the group, Will Connors, a revelation against Scotland, is injured and replaced by Josh van der Flier from Leinster; while the absence of James Ryan with a head injury causes Tadhg Beirne to move to the second row and Jack Conan to take his place in the last row.
England’s only change was that Elliot Daly returned to the wing outside of center in place of the injured Henry Slade. But a very late injury to Max Malins brings Daly back at 15 and takes Ollie Lawrence to center stage. Young Leicester running back George Martin appears on a 6-2 split bench with Joe Marchant and Dan Robson leading the two backs. This means that even with all these absences, the exciting Wasps winger Paolo Odogwu has yet to appear on any team of the day after much fanfare in his call-up at the start of the tournament.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Keith Earls, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton (captain), Conor Murray; Dave Kilcoyne, Rob Herring, Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson, Tadhg Beirne, CJ Stander, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Jamison Gibson Park, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Jordan Larmour.
England: Elliot Daly; Anthony Watson, Ollie Lawrence, Owen Farrell (captain), Jonny May; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Mako Vunipola, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Kyle Sinckler, Maro Itoje, Charlie Ewels, Mark Wilson, Tom Curry, Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Ellis Genge, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Dan Robson, 22 Ollie Lawrence, 23 TBC.
