Simon Lewis
IT was all change for both Scotland and Ireland ahead this Sunday's Six Nations clash at Murrayfield as both sides bid to get back to winning ways.
Ireland head coach Declan Kidney makes three changes from the side that failed to get the job done against an off-colour France at the Aviva Stadium two weeks ago, bringing back Tommy Bowe on the wing with the Ospreys winger having fully recovered from bruising on the knee which kept him out of the first two games of the Championship.
Bowe's return comes at the expense of the unfortunate Fergus McFadden, who did little wrong in those opening matches, an unconvincing win in Italy and then the 25-22 defeat to the French.
Kidney has also been forced to omit scrum-half Tomás O'Leary, who has failed to recover from the back spasms which limited his preparations for the French game, with Eoin Reddan taking the number nine jersey and Peter Stringer moving onto the bench.
The major call, though was, undoubtably at fly-half where Ronan O'Gara replaces the less experienced Jonathan Sexton thanks in large part to his influential role off the bench last time out, taking the game by the reins and giving the Irish team the impetus, platform and territory it had desperately lacked.
O'Gara has been charged with bringing that approach to a Scottish side still smarting from a woeful 26-4 home defeat to Wales that undid all the impressive work achieved since last summer's successful tour to Argentina.
Scottish head coach Andy Robinson pointedly picked a side to “restore the pride in all Scotland supporters” and changed seven of his personnel from the Welsh game while making a further positional switch for Sunday.
“We have made changes with a view to securing our first win of the competition and giving our supporters the lift that they deserve,” Robinson said. “We know that Ireland will bring their own distinct physicality and guile to Murrayfield on Sunday and it is up to our squad to front up to that challenge.
“We must play with belief and eliminate the mistakes which have bedevilled us in our opening two games and we must produce a performance that restores the pride in all Scotland supporters.”
Like Ireland, the Scots will go into the game with a new half-back pairing with Ruaridh Jackson replacing Dan Parks at fly-half and Mike Blair in for Rory Lawson at scrum-half.
Injuries account for the absence of Stade Francais full-back Hugo Southwell and Northampton back Joe Ansbro, who are replaced by Scotland’s most capped player, Chris Paterson and Sean Lamont respectively.
Lamont comes in at inside centre, with Nick De Luca moving from 12 to 13 to cover Ansbro.
In the pack, tight-head prop Euan Murray's refusal to play on a Sunday on religious grounds see his place going to Moray Low while lock Richie Gray, so impressive against the French, returns from illness at the expense of Leinster's Nathan Hines.
The back row is boosted by the return of Johnnie Beattie at number eight with Richie Vernon making way.
IRELAND: L Fitzgerald (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster) - captain, G D'Arcy (Leinster), K Earls (Munster); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster); S O'Brien (Leinster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).
Replacements: S Cronin (Connacht), T Court (Ulster), L Cullen (Leinster), D Leamy (Munster), P Stringer (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), P Wallace (Ulster).
SCOTLAND: C Paterson (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), N De Luca (Edinburgh), S Lamont (Scarlets), M Evans (Glasgow Warriors); R Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), M Low (Glasgow Warriors); R Gray (Glasgow Warriors), A Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) – captain; K Brown (Saracens), J Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors).
Replacements: S Lawson (Gloucester), G Cross (Edinburgh), N Hines (Leinster), R Vernon (Glasgow Warriors), R Lawson (Gloucester), D Parks (Cardiff Blues), S Danielli (Ulster).
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/IfAxNXMePPI/post.aspx
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