Cian Healy starts against Romania but still no Robbie Henshaw

Utilising the full depth of a 31-man squad has been a recurring mantra from head coaches at this Rugby World Cup and Joe Schmidt was no exception when he made wholesale changes for Ireland’s Pool D clash with Romania. Jonny Sexton is not part of this week’s squad.

With tougher tests against Italy and France in the coming weeks, coach Joe Schmidt has rested several key men, including fly-half Johnny Sexton.

Captain Paul O’Connell will start on the bench, while centre Robbie Henshaw is not risked as he continues his return from a hamstring injury picked up last week.

There is a new look midfield with Darren Cave partnering Jared Payne with Simon Zebo deputising for Rob Kearney who is amongst the replacements.

Ross has been one of the most consistently-selected players over the last few years for Ireland and with injury ruling Marty Moore out of this World Cup, there are doubts over whether or not Ross’ replacements can survive in the scrums against bigger teams. So we’ve taken no risk. “I wouldn’t be looking at who is starting”.

Ireland were satisfied with their performance against Canada in Cardiff on Saturday after losing warm-up games to Wales and England.

“Cian is always an asset, whether he’s in the starting team or off the bench”, Schmidt said.

Healy will play his first global since facing Scotland in March in the Six Nations decider.

TV3 Ireland will be broadcasting the match and their team have put together a great promo that borrows heavily on the mythology of Transylvania’s most famous citizen. Their defence was also much improved, with their missed tackle count just 14.

“As in any match we would be managing players in and out of training, so some guys who may have trained yesterday may have sat out today”.

The Six Nations face the Eastern Europeans at Wembley this weekend, hoping to keep pace with Pool D leaders France, but saw the Romanians frustrate Les Bleus for long periods at the Olympic Stadium in midweek.

Simon Zebo, Ireland, is congratulated by teammate Tommy Bowe after scoring their side’s first try.

To that add both Kearney brothers and Jared Payne, leaving just two positions up for grabs. Ian Madigan is an interesting selection at 10.

“I guess Jamie, his leadership, when we decided not to start Paul, one of the back row had to back-up and he was a reasonably obvious choice given that he comes into lead the side”.

The back row is formed by Chris Henry, captain Jamie Heaslip and Jordi Murphy, who starts on the blindside flank for this fixture.