Here’s how the teams line-up as Ulster’s rise continues
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has made five changes to his team to play Wales in Friday night’s sold-out Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium (8.10).
For the third game running, Farrell has rung the changes, with uncapped Ulster scrum-half Nathan Doak set to make his Ireland debut off the bench.
A year after Ulster infamously did not have a single player in the Ireland match-day squad to play Wales, the northern province now have seven players included, which is a testament to the job that Richie Murphy is doing.
Ireland – J Osborne; R Baloucoune, G Ringrose, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; T O’Toole, R Kelleher, T Furlong; J Ryan, T Beirne; J Conan, N Timoney, C Doris (capt). Reps: T Stewart, M Milne, T Clarkson, J McCarthy, J van der Flier, N Doak*, T Farrell, C Frawley.
Wales – L Rees-Zammit (Bristol), E Mee, E James, J Hawkins (all Scarlets), J Adams (Cardiff), D Edwards (Ospreys), T Williams (Gloucester); R Carre (Saracens), D Lake (Ospreys, capt), T Francis (Provence), D Jenkins (Exeter), B Carter (Dragons), A Mann, J Botham (both Cardiff), A Wainwright (Dragons).
Reps: R Elias (Scarlets), N Smith (Leicester), A Griffin (Bath), A Beard (Montpellier), O Cracknell (Leicester), K Hardy (Ospreys), J Evans (Harlequins), L Hennessey (Bath).