Joe Schmidt has stated his confidence in new centre pairing Jared Payne and Robbie Henshaw ahead of Saturday’s clash with South Africa.
“The two lads have got in there together and done a good job (in training)” the Ireland boss stated this afternoon.
“We decided to go with the paring we had the most time with.”
Gordon D’Arcy is unavailable for selection this weekend due to a calf injury sustained in Leinster’s trip to Castres a fortnight ago, so a novel duo in midfield will face the Springboks at the Aviva this weekend.
D’Arcy has, however, been an influential factor at Carton House in the lead up to the Test, according to Schmidt.
“To be fair to Gordon D’Arcy, he’s helped immeasurably. He’s been a mentor for Robbie and Jared this week” said the Kiwi.
The sessions at the Kildare location have provided the grounds for Henshaw and Payne to build up their partnership and, while the pairing is a new one, the Ireland boss says that familiarity was the key factor in his decision.
“Robbie is a good centre and his flexibility to play 12 or 13 is similar to Jared. That’s the way they trained last week and we’ve decided to keep a bit of continuity with that” Schmidt explained.
Meanwhile, Rob Kearney is fit to start at full-back in the side while Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo are both healthy and merit inclusion. In the forwards, Mike Ross has overcome his groin struggles to start at tighthead prop while Sean Cronin starts in the absence of Rory Best.
Here is the team in full that was named earlier this afternoon:
Ireland XV (V South Africa): R Kearney; T Bowe, J Payne, R Henshaw, S Zebo; J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, S Cronin, M Ross; D Toner, P O’Connell (captain), P O’Mahony, C Henry, J Heaslip.
Replacements: R Strauss, D Kilcoyne, R Ah You, M McCarthy, R Ruddock, E Reddan, I Madigan, F Jones.
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.
