{"id":294358,"date":"2026-02-12T14:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294358\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:53:07","slug":"ireland-ring-the-changes-for-six-nations-visit-of-italy-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/294358\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland ring the changes for Six Nations visit of Italy \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Farrell<\/a> has made half a dozen changes in personnel to the Ireland XV for Saturday\u2019s Guinness Men\u2019s Six Nations<\/a> clash against Italy at a sold-out Aviva Stadium (kick-off 2.10pm).<\/p>\n

Munster second row Edwin Edogbo<\/a> is in line for his Test debut off the bench, while the Ulster pair of Robert Baloucoune<\/a> and Cormac Izuchukwu have been called up to the starting team. The fit-again James Lowe is also recalled, while Craig Casey<\/a> has been promoted from the bench, as have James Ryan<\/a> and Jack Conan after their impact as replacements in the 36-14 loss to France a week ago. Captain Caelan Doris<\/a> shifting to openside as Josh van der Flier misses out on the match-day 23 altogether. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Jamie Osborne continues at full-back, as does the Stuart McCloskey-Garry Ringrose midfield and the frontrow of Jeremy Loughman, Dan Sheehan and Thomas Clarkson, as well as lock Joe McCarthy and outhalf Sam Prendergast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The fit again Tadhg Furlong is recalled to the bench and, more surprisingly, Tom O\u2019Toole has been named ahead of Michael Milne after his try-scoring debut in Paris to cover loosehead. It\u2019s not the first time Andy Farrell has made a selection against perceived provincial wisdom, and his hunches generally pay off, and he has apparently been asking Ulster to play O\u2019Toole at loosehead for the last season or two.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Toole has been training on both sides of the scrum in camp but for the last three seasons his every start for Ulster has been at tighthead, and the province have recently signed Wallabies\u2019 loosehead Angus Bell. <\/p>\n

Tadhg Beirne and Jamison Gibson-Park drop to the bench, which again has a 6-2 configuration, with Nick Timoney retained after his try-scoring cameo in Paris.<\/p>\n

Farrell has wasted little time in elevating Edogbo, calling him in to train with the squad in Chicago after his first game back following a two-year absence due to a second ruptured Achilles. A head knock when impressing in Munster\u2019s win over Leinster at Croke Park put paid to that but the 23-year-old has impressed in camp and is now set to become the first player from Cobh Pirates to play for Ireland. <\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Izuchukwu, born in London to an Irish mother and Nigerian father, was reared in Offaly from the age of seven. A product of Tullamore RFC and Roscrea College, he became the first Men\u2019s XV player from Offaly to play for Ireland when he made his debut against Fiji in November 2024. This will be Izuchukwu\u2019s Six Nations debut. <\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Baloucoune has had his injury woes too and won the last of his four caps in November 2022, but the pacey finisher has been in fine form for Ulster this season with six tries in six games. <\/p>\n

Commenting ahead of Saturday, Andy Farrell said: \u201cSaturday provides us with a great opportunity in front of a packed home crowd at Aviva Stadium. We\u2019ve had some great battles against Italy in recent years and Saturday will be no different. We know we have to reach a consistently high standard and that\u2019s the exciting challenge that awaits us. There has been a positive reaction in training this week and we\u2019ll aim to keep on building into the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn congratulating all of the 23 on their selection, I would like to single out Edwin [Edogbo] on his first selection for the senior team. A product of the club game with Cobh Pirates and UCC, he has shown real quality in his performances for Munster and in training with us over recent times. We will aim to make it a special day for Edwin, his family and all those who have played a part in his journey to date.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s match is live on Virgin Media One and ITV, with live radio commentary is available on RT\u00c9 Radio 1.<\/p>\n

Ireland (v Italy): 15 Jamie Osborne; 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 James Lowe; 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Craig Casey; 1 Jeremy Loughman, 2 Dan Sheehan, 3 Thomas Clarkson; 4 Joe McCarthy, 5 James Ryan; 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 7 Caelan Doris (captain), 8 Jack Conan. <\/p>\n

Replacements: 16 R\u00f3nan Kelleher, 17 Tom O\u2019Toole, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Nick Timoney, 22 Jamison Gibson-Park, 23 Jack Crowley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell has made half a dozen changes in personnel to the Ireland XV for Saturday\u2019s Guinness Men\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25747,28581,140008,65813,132379,61,60,87073,43,75706,12918,15551],"class_list":{"0":"post-294358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-caelan-doris","10":"tag-cormac-izuchukwu","11":"tag-craig-casey","12":"tag-edwin-edogbo","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-james-ryan","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-robert-baloucoune","18":"tag-sam-prendergast","19":"tag-six-nations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294358","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=294358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}