Tag

“Jared Payne has a bruised foot and hasn’t trained all week”, said Kearney.

There is another provincial axis in midfield with Ulster’s Darren Cave and Payne filling the centre berths, while Earls is joined in the back-three by Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe, the only survivor from Ireland’s 43-12 victory over Romania back in November 2005.

Keith Earls tied Ireland’s World Cup try-scoring record with a brace in 44-10 victory over Romania to take Joe Schmidt’s men top of Pool D, before suffering a concussion scare.

Dazzling Earls, making his first appearance for Ireland in 29 months, boosted his chances of being included in Schmidt’s 31-man final World Cup squad with a classy display in Cardiff.