- Title: RUGBY-NATIONS/IRELAND Ireland confident ahead of Six Nations opener
- Date: 9th February 2015
- Summary: ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 6, 2015) (REUTERS) IRELAND TEAM ON PITCH FOR TRAINING AT ROME'S OLYMPIC STADIUM TWO PLAYERS RUNNING AND PLAYERS PASSING BALL IRELAND COACH JOE SCHMIDT RORY BEST STRETCHING IRELAND CAPTAIN PAUL O'CONNELL SPEAKING WITH OTHER PLAYERS VARIOUS OF PLAYERS LINING UP PLAYERS STRETCHING IRELAND CAPTAIN PAUL O'CONNELL ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBI
- Embargoed: 24th February 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAA0O0779F29CE0XDUC94SWHWNG
- Story Text: Ireland's Ian Keatley will make a Six Nations debut while flanker Sean O'Brien returns from a five-month injury absence for their opening game against Italy in Rome on Saturday (February 7).
Munster flyhalf Keatley has been picked ahead of Ian Madigan as mainstay Jonathan Sexton misses out after suffering a series of blows to the head.
Coach Joe Schmidt chose Jordi Murphy at number eight in place of vice-captain Jamie Heaslip (shoulder problem). Murphy will make his first start in the tournament, while
O'Brien goes straight into the pack for his first test appearance since 2013, having made his comeback from shoulder reconstruction by playing 50 minutes for Ireland Wolfhounds against the England Saxons last week.
Addressing reporters following a pre-game training session at Rome's Olympic Stadium, Ireland captain Paul O'Connell said the team was eager to get the championship started.
"I suppose this game is a long time coming," he said. "You know, we had a great autumn and we really made a lot of progress in that Australia game, in terms of, you know obviously taking a Southern Hemisphere scalp but big part of it was how we finished the game as well, you know, defensively I think we made some big steps in that game so you know you're eager to get out and play again and improve.
"A big part of what we do is just try to get better week by week, championship by championship and game by game so after that Australia game to have to wait whatever it is, two and a half months, for a game is frustrating and I think the guys have really been looking forward to it. Obviously it's a bit of a different, a change of team to what we had in the autumn but that's exciting as well."
O'Connell said he expected Italy, Martin Castrogiovanni and captain Sergio Parisse in particular, to showcase their skills on Saturday and added that keeping good discipline would be key for Ireland.
"I think in previous years we've made mistakes, we've been disciplined and looking at the game two years ago I think we might have had three in the bin and two in the bin at one time and it's very hard to compete away from home against that. But luckily in past 18 months that discipline has been a massive part of our game and that's also a big part of denying access to other teams into a game, our penalty count is low, we very rarely have players who go to the bin and I think if you can do that , if you can maintain that discipline away from home you have a better chance," he said.
O'Connell said he expected Keatley to do well on Saturday.
"You know Ian has worked really hard to get here, there's years of experience behind him, years of ups and downs. He plays a great leadership role for us at Munster and he played in all kinds of conditions, he's played under a good few different coaches, he's a really really experienced out half. I suppose he doesn't have that many caps so I know he's really enjoyed working with Joe and he's really looking forward to playing tomorrow and I think he'll do really well."
The kick off in the game at Rome's Olympic Stadium is at 1530 local (1430gmt) on Saturday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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