Joe Schmidt has made four changes to Ireland's line-up for the fixture at the Aviva Stadium with Jack Conan and Dan Leavy handed first tournament starts
Friday 9 February 2018 10:06, UK
Jordan Larmour should make his Test debut in Ireland's Six Nations encounter with Italy in Dublin.
The 20-year-old has won a place on Ireland's replacements bench for Saturday's fixture after impressing in his breakthrough campaign at Leinster, at full-back and wing.
Jack Conan starts at No 8 for his Six Nations debut, with CJ Stander dropping to the bench after putting in a mammoth shift in last weekend's 15-13 win over France in Paris.
Highly rated tighthead prop Andrew Porter, 22, could also make his tournament bow off the bench, while flanker Dan Leavy will also make his first Six Nations start.
Leavy impressed in Paris after replacing the unfortunate Josh van der Flier, who will now miss the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.
Jack McGrath trades places with Cian Healy to start in the front row, and there is precious little for boss Joe Schmidt to choose between when it comes to his two experienced loosehead props.
Ireland show just four changes in all from their last-gasp victory at the Stade de France, with head coach Schmidt putting victory before experimentation as he targets a genuine title charge.
Devin Toner comes back into the starting line-up having lost his second row berth to young Leinster team-mate James Ryan in Paris, with the vastly experienced lineout specialist determined to prove a point on his return.
Connacht's Quinn Roux takes a seat on the bench as cover at lock, while skipper Rory Best will draw level with Paul O'Connell as Ireland's third-most capped player of all time, on 108 Test appearances.
Ireland boss Joe Schmidt said: "I expect Jordan to provide what he's been providing in the provincial matches so far, that raw acceleration and the ability to beat players. And without the ball he wants to make a big contribution too.
"It's a good situation that he could potentially slot in around experienced players, but at the same time you don't place a player and expect them to be looked after.
"He has an expectation that he'll look after himself and look after what he needs to do and bring those exciting elements I talked about to the game."
Ireland team to face Italy: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13, Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Jack McGrath, 2, Rory Best, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Iain Henderson, 5 Devin Toner, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Dan Leavy, 8 Jack Conan.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 CJ Stander, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour
