BOD, O’Brien and Kearney named in Ireland XV

Brian O’Driscoll, Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney have been named in Ireland‘s starting XV to face Wales on Saturday.
The Leinster trio missed the Autumn internationals through injury but their experience will be needed to face the reigning Grand Slam Champions at the Millennium Stadium.
The talismanic centre starts alongside old-pal Gordon D’Arcy in the midfield while O’Brien is at open side and Kearney at full-back.
There’s also a return in the front row with Ulster‘s Rory Best, who also missed the autumn Test series through injury, returning at hooker.
Best’s club teammate Craig Gilroy starts on the wing with Munster‘s Simon Zebo, who scored a hat-trick against Racing Metro two weeks ago to help the Men in Red qualify to the Heineken Cup quarter-finals, on the other flank.
Ireland: Rob Kearney; Craig Gilroy, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Simon Zebo; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross; Mike McCarthy, Donnacha Ryan; Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien, Jamie Heaslip (Capt.).
Replacements: Sean Cronin, David Kilcoyne, Declan Fitzpatrick, Donnacha O’Callaghan, Chris Henry, Eoin Reddan, Ronan O’Gara, Keith Earls.