{"id":278255,"date":"2026-02-03T09:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/278255\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:18:15","slug":"andy-farrell-names-ireland-team-for-6-nations-opener-against-les-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/278255\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell names Ireland team for 6 Nations opener against Les Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lmfm.ie\/news\/sport\/\" class=\"c-btn c-btn--small c-btn--secondary-fill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        All Sport<br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiir-c-news-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6981b1b7883f0.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n                                    Sam Prendergast &#8211; will one one of the Ireland starters in Paris on Thursday night..<\/p>\n<p class=\"aiir-c-news-article__abstract\">\n            Some changes have been enforced due to injuries and suspension, but it&#8217;s a big opportunity for some of the former fringe players to stake their claim&#8230;\n        <\/p>\n<p>The Ireland team to face France in the opening game of the 6 Nations Championship in Paris on Thursday night has been announced..<\/p>\n<p>There are 7 changes and a switch to a split of 6 forwards and 2 backs on the bench, from the side that started the 24-13 home defeat to South Africa last time out on November 22nd..<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy Loughman, Cian Prendergast and Jacob Stockdale will all start in Paris..<\/p>\n<p>Lock James Ryan drops to the replacements bench, while former regular left wing James Lowe has been omitted from the squad<\/p>\n<p>Jacob Stockdale will be starting on the wing for his Country, for the first time since March 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Jamie Osborne returns at full-back, but there&#8217;s no Tadgh Furlong due to injury<\/p>\n<p>Brothers Cian and Sam Prendergast will be starting for Ireland together, for the first time in a test match..<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6981b0cc6f9d2.jpg\" style=\"width: 702.992px; height: 878.59px;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>And the dates and venues for Ireland&#8217;s World Cup Pool matches in Australia next year, have been confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland&#8217;s first game in Pool D will be against Portugal at the Sydney Football Stadium on Monday the 4th of October.<\/p>\n<p>The Scotland game will be in Perth Stadium on Sunday October 10th, while Docklands Stadium in Melbourne will be the venue for the clash with Uruguay on Sunday October 17th.<br \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/onic-player\/id6747436925?ppid=62f5d1bc-976b-45a1-a0cb-ee4acf856ae1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/68da98f645855.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Sport Sam Prendergast &#8211; will one one of the Ireland starters in Paris on Thursday night.. Some&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4263,4262,61,60,3323,4259,4258,4265,4266,4264,4260,4261,43],"class_list":["post-278255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-drogheda-radio","tag-dundalk-radio","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-job-search","tag-lm-fm","tag-lmfm","tag-lmfm-breakfast-show","tag-lmfm-late-lunch","tag-lmfm-podcast","tag-louth-radio","tag-meath-radio","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}