Starting 15 for italy game

GreenHell

15 – Girvan Dempsey (Leinster–Terenure College)
14 – Shane Horgan (Leinster–Lansdowne)
13 – Gordon D’Arcy (Leinster-Lansdowne)
12 – Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster-Blackrock College) capt
11 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester)
10 – Ronan O’Gara (Munster–Cork Constitution)
9 – Peter Stringer (Munster–Shannon)
1 – Reggie Corrigan (Leinster–Greystones)
2 – Shane Byrne (Leinster–Blackrock College)
3 – John Hayes (Munster–Shannon)
4 – Malcom O’Kelly (Leinster-St. Mary’s College)
5 – Paul O’Connell (Munster–Young Munster)
6 – Simon Easterby (Llanelli)
7 – Keith Gleeson (Leinster–St. Mary’s College)
8 – Anthony Foley (Munster–Shannon)

Replacements:
16 – Frank Sheahan (Munster– Cork Constitution)
17 – Marcus Horan (Munster–Shannon)
18 – Donncha O’Callaghan (Munster–Cork Constitution)
19 – Victor Costello (Leinster–St. Mary’s College)
20 – Guy Easterby (Rotherham)
21 – David Humphreys (Ulster – Dungannon)
22 – Kevin Maggs (Bath).

No replacement winger, looks like EOS is looking to swap around the back 3 with D'Arcy if there is an injury. Good to see Murphy back.

Trojan

Originally posted by GreenHell

11 – Geordan Murphy (Leicester)

Sweeet!

uberwolf

what is he like on the wing? Is it his best position?

jonno

He can play anywhere in the back three equally well I think. Only seen him played on the wings a few times and he was good. Personally I would have kept Howe on the team and put Murphy full back. It's the only weak spot in the backs IMO.

Nice replacement pack there because they are bound to get a pretty good battle from the Italian pack.

Jilm

Having Murphy on the wing is a good way of easing him back into the team, this way he can get involved as much as he feels comfortable with, more so than if he were playing at FB.

Having Murph back & picking a subs bench heavy on forwards means there less room for specialists like Howe, so it's a pity he loses out altogther after doing nothing wrong in the Eng game.

One-trick-vic is still in the mix unfortunately, cummon eddie, give David Wallace a chance

evilhomer

One-trick-vic is still in the mix unfortunately

Yeah but its a good trick effective too.

Nice to see murphy back!

Eddie O' Sullivan has picked a smart team there.

With a strong forward presence on the bench, I think there are so few replacement backs because Italy aren't known for getting the ball out wide so i would expect very few injuries due to rucks/tackles out wide.

I can see us getting a lot of ball to the wingers in this match, if we can get the ball quickly from the rucks.

Nice to see stringer is ok to play

GreenHell

Wallace would make a far better sub than Vic, Wallace is one of the best ball carriers in the country and is brillant at breaking the tackle.

However I don't think Wallace will make it back to the squad until he makes his stamp in the HC again.