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Ireland make one change for Grand Slam game at Twickenham

Inpho
Joe Schmidt has made one change to his Grand Slam-chasing team ahead of their trip to Twickenham on Saturday.

Joe Schmidt has made one change to his Grand Slam-chasing team ahead of their trip to Twickenham on Saturday.

The change comes at second row, where Iain Henderson is preferred to Devin Toner, who drops to the bench.

Last week’s man of the match Rob Kearney retains his place in the starting XV, with Leinster prospect Jordan Larmour on the bench.

Ireland sewed up the NatWest 6 Nations title last weekend, but could win a third ever Grand Slam with a win over England on St Patrick’s Day.

Head coach Schmidt said: “There’s a sense of anticipation, there’s a sense of nervousness.

“The magnitude of what it’s going to take to get us over the line is very much uppermost in the thinking.

“It was a bit of a plan over last few days to mix things up in the second row.

“Iain has got a little bit of time under his belt after having a couple of weeks off, so we think he has progressed a little bit further and is more ready to go.”   Ireland team to face England 15. Rob Kearney (Leinster) 14. Keith Earls (Munster) 13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster) 12. Bundee Aki (Connacht) 11. Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 10. Jonathan Sexton (Leinster) 9. Conor Murray (Munster) 1. Cian Healy (Leinster) 2. Rory Best (Ulster) 3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster) 4. James Ryan (Leinster) 5. Iain Henderson (Ulster) 6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster) 7. Dan Leavy (Leinster) 8. CJ Stander (Munster)

Replacements: 16. Sean Cronin (Leinster) 17. Jack McGrath (Leinster) 18. Andrew Porter (Leinster) 19. Devin Toner (Leinster) 20. Jordi Murphy (Leinster) 21. Kieran Marmion (Connacht) 22. Joey Carbery (Leinster) 23. Jordan Larmour (Leinster)