To borrow the words of Kevin McCallister, “This is it. Don’t get scared now.”
After all the talk, Ireland enter their first 2019 Rugby World Cup battle on Sunday and this morning head coach Joe Schmidt has named the 15 men who will be tasked with beating Scotland in Yokohama. The bad news for anyone who wanted to see Keith Earls add to his 30 international tries is that the Munster man will not be risked after picking up a thigh injury.
Earls will be joined on the sidelines by Rob Kearney whose injured calf has failed to heal on time. Coming in for the pair are Andrew Conway and Jordan Larmour. Completing the backline are Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose and Jacob Stockdale.
Here's the Ireland team to play @Scotlandteam in our first Pool A game of @rugbyworldcup #ShoulderToShoulder #TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/cmmDQKjXaO
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 20, 2019
Rory Best will captain the side and there aren’t many surprises among the rest of the forwards. Ireland face Scotland at 8.45am on Sunday and the full team can be viewed in the above post.
