Ireland head-coach Joe Schmidt admits picking Garry Ringrose to start a third successive match is a 'calculated risk' and not ideal.
With Chris Farrell concussed and Robbie Henshaw not yet fully fit, Ringrose joins Bundee Aki in midfield for Thursday's Rugby World Cup clash with Russia.
"It's a risk but Garry is feeling great, and he's playing super," Schmidt said on selecting the Leinster centre for a second game in five days.
"I thought Garry was really good last weekend, he was one of the guys who didn't really miss a beat. He was still working really hard, creating opportunity.
"He moved into 12, we had Jordan Larmour at 13, who's really a back-three player for us, we had Luke McGrath on the wing and we were chasing the game, and that's a fairly tough situation to be in.
"Sometimes because you're limited to 23 players it happens like that.
"Robbie is on the cusp of being available, and if we'd put him back in this week, which we'd thought about, we felt that was a risk we don't need to take because Garry's feeling good. We can put Robbie in maybe next week, and at the same time we've got Bundee (Aki) back, and he's got a fair bit of bounce about him.
"With Chris Farrell suffering a concussion and it being a five-day turnaround, our hands are tied there, and we want to make sure we look after Chris as well and that's part of the formula.
"We thought about potentially moving Keith Earls there, but then we'd have had to keep Jacob Stockdale ticking over, and so it was really based around who was still feeling really good. Bundee and Garry have a really good midfield relationship so it works out hopefully that that will still be productive for us."
Everyone’s in the Team Of Us.
Vodafone. The Official Sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
