O'Mahony and Aki set for landmark caps
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named the 23 players to face South Africa in Pool B at Stade de France on Saturday, 23 September, with back-row Peter O'Mahony winning his 100th test cap and centre Bundee Aki earning his 50th.
1 Andrew Porter
2 Ronan Kelleher
3 Tadhg Furlong
4 Tadhg Beirne
5 James Ryan
6 Peter O'Mahony
7 Josh van der Flier
8 Caelan Doris
9 Jamison Gibson-Park
11 James Lowe
12 Bundee Aki
13 Garry Ringrose
14 Mack Hansen
15 Hugo Keenan
Replacements:
16 Dan Sheehan
17 Dave Kilcoyne
18 Finlay Bealham
19 Iain Henderson
20 Ryan Baird
21 Conor Murray
22 Jack Crowley
23 Robbie Henshaw
- Peter O’Mahony will bring up a century of test caps following his 98 caps for Ireland and one for the British and Irish Lions.
- Jamison Gibson-Park replaces Conor Murray at scrum-half in the only change to the starting XV that took on Tonga. Murray takes Craig Casey’s place among the replacements.
- Eleven of the players who started Ireland’s 19-16 win over South Africa in their last meeting in Dublin in November 2022 are once again included in the run-on team (props Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong, second-rows Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan, back-rowers Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris, fly-half Johnny Sexton, centre Garry Ringrose, winger Mack Hansen – on the left wing rather than the right - and full-back Hugo Keenan).
- Johnny Sexton became Ireland’s record points scorer (1,090 points) when he scored a try in the 38th minute of the round two 59-16 win against Tonga. The previous record holder, Ronan O’Gara, achieved his 1,083 points in 128 tests for Ireland whereas Sexton has got to his milestone in just 115.
- Bundee Aki is bidding to become the first centre to finish the tournament as top try-scorer. He currently leads the way with four.
- As a combination, Aki and outside-centre Garry Ringrose have proved to be a formidable force. Ireland have won 18 of the 22 tests they have started together.
