As expected, Joe Schmidt has made two changes to the Ireland team to play Scotland. Cian Healy and Luke Fitzgerald come into the team at the expense of Jack McGrath and Simon Zebo. Jack McGrath drops to the bench, while Simon Zebo drops out of the squad altogether as Felix Jones retains his place on the bench.
Devin Toner, Rory Best and Jared Payne retain their places despite growing calls from Iain Henderson, Sean Cronin and Keith Earls, while Eoin Reddan's impressive showing off the bench isn't enough to get him a starting job.
Schmidt has kept faith with the majority of his team, while Zebo's exclusion comes a week after a performance that didn't match his previous standard of play in the other games of the tournament. Cian Healy starts for Ireland for the first time since Ireland's Six Nations win in Paris last March.
Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip,Johnny Sexton and Cian Healy all have extra gametime under their belts and should be ready to go for the crunch game with Scotland where Ireland will look for a big win to have any chance of winning a back to back championship for the first time since 1949.
Ireland Team To Play Scotland:
15. Rob Kearney
14. Tommy Bowe
13. Jared Payne
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. Luke Fitzgerald
10. Johnny Sexton
9. Conor Murray
1. Cian Healy
2. Rory Best
3. Mike Ross
4. Devin Toner
5. Paul O'Connell (c)
6. Peter O'Mahony
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip
Replacements:
16. Sean Cronin
17. Jack McGrath
18. Martin Moore
19. Iain Henderson
20. Jordi Murphy
21. Eoin Reddan
22. Ian Madigan
23. Felix Jones
Two changes to @IrishRugby team to play @Scotlandteam as @lukefitz11 & @ProperChurch start. #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/PZCNuTjFfq
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 19, 2015
