Simon Easterby's men continue their 2025 Six Nations journey, this Saturday, against a beleagured Wales. England have been bested by a focused Ireland team, Scotland were outgunned in Edinburgh and Wales are up next.
On Thursday, the interim head coach named his Ireland team to take on Wales, in Cardiff (2:15pm kick-off, Saturday, February 22nd).
Ireland team (vs. Wales)
15. Jamie Osborne
14. Mack Hansen
13. Garry Ringrose
12. Robbie Henshaw
11. James Lowe
10. Sam Prendergast
9. Jamison Gibson-Park1. Andrew Porter
2. Dan Sheehan
3. Thomas Clarkson
4. Joe McCarthy
5. Tadhg Beirne
6. Peter O’Mahony
7. Josh van der Flier
8. Jack Conan
Replacements: 16. Gus McCarthy, 17. Jack Boyle*, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. James Ryan, 20. Cian Prendergast, 21. Conor Murray, 22. Jack Crowley, 23. Bundee Aki
Our Ireland team news liveblog [below] will also keep you up to date on all the contentious issues, updates and reactions to the big calls.
Click on the key point you want to read about, or just keep scrolling to see updates in our liveblog [below]:
Calvin Nash, left, celebrates with teammates Hugo Keenan and Sam Prendergast after scoring Ireland's first try during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match against Scotland, at Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)
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Simon Easterby hoping his Ireland team will keep winning momentum
With Andy Farrell on a six-month sabbatical, due to his commitment to the British & Irish Lions, interim coach Simon Easterby will lead this Ireland team through the 2025 Six Nations.
Easterby, who played 65 times for Ireland and two Tests with the Lions, was previously head coach of Welsh side, Scarlets before joining Joe Schmidt, in 2014, and becoming forwards coach of the Irish national team. The 49-year-old made his Test debut against Scotland, when Warren Gatland was Ireland coach, in 2000.
Previewing Saturday's game against Wales, who are bottom of the table, Easterby commented, "We know that Cardiff is a hell of a place to go and play, the roof will be closed... 75,000 passionate people that want and will their team to success.
"I’m a big believer in making sure that we play each game as it comes and that will be no different... we’ll make sure we’ll get prepared well for that Wales challenge."
On Sunday, Ireland announced a 40-man squad for round three of the championship. Gavin Coombes, John Hodnett, Diarmuid Mangan, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale and Nick Timoney were all added to the squad, with Iain Henderson (hamstring) and Cormac Izuchukwu (ankle) unavailable due to injury.
