Rory Best will captain Ireland but who will line out with him on Saturday?

Declan Kidney was able to call on Ulster’s Rory Best as captain after he recovered from injury but who else got the nod to start on Saturday?

With Paul O’Connell and Conor Murray out injured we knew that, for once, Ireland coach Declan Kidney would have to make some changes to his starting XV for Scotland.

So who did Kidney throw the jersey to? Well coming into the second row for O’Connell is his Munster team-mate Donncha Ryan while Eoin Reddan gets the nod at scrum-half in place of Murray.

Taking their places on the bench is Connacht’s Mike McCarthy and Munster’s Tomas O’Leary, again, not exactly a shock. And despite all sorts of talk about who might captain Ireland, once Ulster hooker Best declared himself fit, he was always the red-hot favourite to lead his country out for the third time and so it proved.

All we need now is to get a win against Scotland at Aviva Stadium with this slightly new-look side and ensure we finish the Six Nations as strongly as possible.

Ireland team v Scotland: R Kearney; T Bowe, K Earls, G D’Arcy, A Trimble; J Sexton, E Reddan; C Healy, R Best, M Ross; D O’Callaghan, D Ryan; S Ferris, S O’Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: S Cronin, T Court, M McCarthy, P O’Mahony, T O’Leary, R O’Gara, F McFadden.