Cian Healy to notch 50th Six Nations appearances for Ireland

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named a strong side to take on Wales in their Six Nations opener at the Principality Stadium on Sunday.

Prop Cian Healy will make his 50th Championship appearance as he wins his 105th cap for Ireland, as Johnny Sexton captains the visitors to Cardiff.

The Leinster loosehead is joined in the front-row by Rob Herring and Andrew Porter.

Areas of intrigue in Farrell’s selection surround Hugo Keenan‘s inclusion at full-back in place of Jordan Larmour.

Keenan, 24, will slot into the back three with Keith Earls and James Lowe, as Larmour is left to settle for a place on the bench after not coming in for many minutes at Leinster in recent weeks.

On the details of his selection, Farrell said it had been James Lowe who had come out on top in training.

“James has been in great form [in training],” said Farrell. “It has been a seamless return for him, like it has been for most of the other lads. Jordan Larmour has not played much game time and Andrew Conway is in the same boat but they are all fit and raring to go and up to speed.”

Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan form the lock partnership with Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander named in the back-row.

Van der Flier, specifically, benefits from a worrying concussion issue surrounding Caelan Doris, who was released from the Ireland base in Kildare to be treated by brain injury experts.

“We will wait and see,” Farrell cautiously responded to a question about Doris’s availability for the following rounds of the Six Nations. “The only thing that matters at this moment in time is that Caelan gets the advice that he needs. We will see how the coming weeks go.

“Josh was on bench for us a couple of times in the autumn and he came on and made some magnificent impacts. He has a fantastic rugby brain and he will add something in that sense.”

Ireland team to play Wales in the 2021 Six Nations

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jonathan Sexton (capt), 9 Conor Murray; 1 Cian Healy, 2 Rob Herring, 3 Andrew Porter, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 CJ Stander

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Will Connors, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Jordan Larmour