Five Munster Players to Start Ireland Test

Five Munster players will start on Ireland’s team to play Australia in Brisbane on Saturday (kick-off 11.05 a.m. Irish time).

Chris Henry, will win his first senior cap for Ireland when he lines out at number 8 and is one of four players, including Paddy Wallace, Jonathan Sexton and Munster's Niall Ronan, who have been retained in the starting line-up from Ireland's last game against New Zealand Maori.

Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Brian O'Driscoll and Munster’s Tomas O’Leary return to the back-line for Ireland's final match of their summer tour, against Australia at Suncorp Stadium.

Munster forward Mick O'Driscoll will partner his colleague Donncha O'Callaghan in the second row after recovering from a back injury.

Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Munster prop Tony Buckley form the front row, as they did in the recent Test against the All Blacks.

Teenage flanker Rhys Ruddock and hooker Damien Varley, who have been named among the replacements, are the other uncapped players in the matchday 22.

Dan Tuohy, a Test debutant against New Zealand, and Munster number 10 Ronan O'Gara, who stands on 99 Ireland caps, have also been included on the bench.

A calf injury hampered Munster hooker Jerry Flannery's bid to make the Test selection, while flanker David Wallace has flown home to be with his wife Aileen for the birth of their second child.

IRELAND TEAM & REPLACEMENTS (v Australia, Summer Tour Match, Suncorp Stadium, Saturday, June 26, kick-off 8.05pm local time/11.05am Irish time):

15 – Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 – Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 – Brian O'Driscoll (UCD/Leinster) (capt)
12 – Paddy Wallace (Ballymena/Ulster)
11 – Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 – Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
9 – Tomas O'Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
1 – Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 – Sean Cronin (Buccaneers/Connacht)
3 – Tony Buckley (Shannon/Munster)
4 – Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 – Mick O'Driscoll (Cork Constitution/Munster)
6 – Niall Ronan (Shannon/Munster)
7 – Shane Jennings (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
8 – Chris Henry (Ballymena/Ulster) *

Replacements:

16 – Damien Varley (Garryowen/Munster) *
17 – Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 – Dan Tuohy (Ballymena/Ulster)
19 – Rhys Ruddock (UCD/Leinster) *
20 – Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
21 – Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester Tigers)

* Denotes uncapped player