Tommy O'Donnell Returns for Ireland

Tommy O'Donnell has been named in Ireland's starting 15 for Saturday's final Six Nations clash with Scotland.

He comes in at number seven ahead of Josh van Der Flier. Otherwise, it's the same side who comprehensively beat Italy last weekend.

"Josh has shipped a couple of knocks in the last two games, he took another knock on Monday. It's been an attritional few weeks for Josh, with big 80 mins back to back. He's fit to play, but carrying a few knocks," said Schmidt.

"Conversely, Tommy has trained very well. He hasn't had the luckiest of preparations in previous times. We're looking forward to him contributing with an athletic performance.

"Josh has involved himself a lot, contact work has been high and we felt it was pertinent to give him a rest.

"We've tried to balance continuity with opportunity during this Six Nations and we're hoping it might bear a bit of fruit down the line."

Rory Best proved his fitness at Ireland’s training session and he will link up with Jack McGrath and Mike Ross in the front-row, with Donnacha Ryan and Devin Toner in the engine room and CJ Stander, O'Donnell and Jamie Heaslip in the back-row.

Conor Murray will partner Johnny Sexton as Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne link up in midfield and Keith Earls, Andrew Trimble and Simon Zebo continue in the back three.

The head coach is intent on building as many combinations as possible ahead of the three Test summer tour of South Africa as his side look to maintain their place on the World Rugby rankings table at the end of the competition.

Defeat could have major implications on Ireland’s prospects for the 2019 World Cup, with no decision yet taken on whether the draw will be made at the end of this year.

Schmidt’s side are currently ranked seventh, but with three games against South Africa, two against New Zealand and one each against and Australia to come in 2016, their ranking could take a battering, but victory over ninth-ranked Scotland would give them some breathing space in their bid to remain in the top-eight teams.

Ireland

S Zebo (Munster), A Trimble, J Payne (both Ulster), R Henshaw (Connacht), K Earls (Munster), J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); J McGrath (Leinster), R Best (Ulster, capt), M Ross (Leinster), D Ryan (Munster), D Toner (Leinster), CJ Stander (Ulster), T O'Donnell (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: R Strauss, C Healy (both Leinster), N White, U Dillane (both Connacht), R Ruddock, E Reddan, I Madigan, F McFadden (all Leinster).

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Lucky Thirteen for Leinster Flier

Josh van der Flier’s controversially-awarded try helped Leinster to grind out a 13-0 Guinness PRO12 win over Connacht at a wet and windy RDS Arena.

The young flanker’s converted score on the hour mark was awarded by referee George Clancy and TMO Marshall Kilgore, despite no clear grounding of the ball on the replays, with Connacht captain John Muldoon appearing to hold him up.

But Leinster deserved their sixth league victory on the trot, with man-of-the-match Eoin Reddan, Devin Toner and lively replacement Sean O’Brien, making his 100th provincial appearance, driving them to a hard-earned result.

Jonny Sexton’s penalty on the quarter hour mark was the only score of a bruising, rain-soaked first half, with Connacht digging deep to prevent wind-backed Leinster from crossing their line.

The westerners, second in the table before kick-off, struggled for accuracy in attack, though, and Van der Flier’s effort, coupled with a 74th-minute penalty from replacement Ian Madigan, sealed the points for Leo Cullen’s men.

With a strong wind behind them, Leinster forced a series of early penalties, but the white-shirted visitors doggedly defended three lineout mauls in quick succession.

The pressure had to tell eventually and following two further Connacht infringements, Sexton slotted a straightforward 14th-minute penalty from in front of the posts.

A threatening break from Garry Ringrose amounted to nothing as Craig Ronaldson brought him down and then gobbled up a loose ball, and Eoghan Masterson won a relieving ruck penalty after another Leinster maul was halted.

A turgid spell was broken up by a couple of sniping runs from Eoin Reddan, who started in place of Luke McGrath (foot infection), but Connacht’s excellent number eight Masterson poached a ruck ball to release the pressure.

It was Leinster’s turn to feel the heat close to half-time, Niyi Adeolokun racing up to almost score from a Tiernan O’Halloran grubber kick towards the right corner. Having initially failed to gather the greasy ball, Dave Kearney recovered well to tackle Adeolokun into touch.

Into the second period, Connacht survived a slick midfield surge from Ringrose, a knock-on spoiling Leinster’s latest attack, and O’Halloran hoovered up at the end of a Rob Kearney-initiated kick chase.

However, Kearney’s younger brother Dave soon sliced open the Connacht defence on the left, powering into the 22 to set up a prolonged attacking spell. After a series of pick and goes, Van der Flier was adjudged to have forced his way over, with Sexton converting.

Bundee Aki tried to inject some pace into the Connacht attack, but he lacked support and some questionable decisions by Clancy also thwarted their progress.

The influence of Toner and O’Brien up front kept Leinster on course and Madigan knocked over the clinching penalty with six minutes left, confirming the province’s rise to second place — just a point behind the table-topping Scarlets, with a game in hand.

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Toulon Win Leaves Leinster Hoping

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Toulon, the champions, bounced back from their defeat by Wasps and all but ended Leinster’s hopes of qualifying with a 24-9 victory over the Irish province in Pool One at Stade Mayol day.

Toulon, who included their latest big signing, the All Black World Cup winner Ma’a Nonu, for the first time in a Champions Cup match, extended their unbeaten home run in the tournament to 16 games with a hard-fought victory.

Leinster, who, like Toulon, have won Europe’s premier club competition three times, arrived knowing that a third consecutive defeat would end any hopes they had of reaching the last eight and they did not help themselves by having three forwards sent to the sin-bin. The flanker Steffon Armitage scored both tries for the home side from driving lineouts.

The visitors were given the perfect start when the former Saracens and England prop Matt Stevens collapsed the first scrum and Jonny Sexton landed a penalty from near the halfway line after only three minutes.

Early indiscretions by Toulon allowed Leinster to build an advantage, with Sexton doubling the lead from his second penalty in the sixth minute after the home side had gone over the top at a ruck.

If the signs were encouraging for Leo Cullen’s side, they were given a reminder of Toulon’s power after 10 minutes.

Having ignored a penalty within kicking range and instead sent the ball into the right corner, they turned a line-out take by Samu Manoa into a driving maul which resulted in Armitage crossing for a try which the scrum-half Éric Escande improved.

Escande then kicked a penalty to make it 10-6, but Sexton replied to make it a one point game at the end of the first half.

Leinster survived for 10 minutes without the prop Cian Healy, who was sent to the sin-bin for a reckless challenge on Guilhem Guirado at a ruck. But it was a different story when Devin Toner was shown the yellow card six minutes into the second half.

This time Escande was able to add two more penalties to his tally and by the time the Ireland lock returned the home side had moved into a 16-9 lead.

There was one more penalty from the boot of the scrum-half in the 67th minute which ended the visitors hopes of salvaging a losing bonus point.

The replacement lock Tom Denton was the third Leinster forward to be sent to the sin-bin and no sooner had he gone off than Armitage went over again for Toulon.

There will be a 30,000-plus crowd at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin when the two teams meet again on Saturday but the prospects for Leinster, with only one point from three games, are extremely bleak.

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Schmidt Names Oldies But Goodies

Joe Schmidt has named the oldest starting line-up in World Cup history for Ireland’s second Pool D match against Romania, with the coach making 12 changes from the side that beat Canada 50-7 last Saturday.

Robbie Henshaw has failed to recover from hamstring trouble and Schmidt believes pitching the 21-year-old into action against Romania on Sunday could have risked the centre’s entire World Cup, but he is confident Henshaw will be ready to face Italy in Ireland’s third Pool D match, at the Olympic Stadium next month. Darren Cave slots in at 12 in his stead with Cian Healy also recalled at loosehead prop.

“At the start of the week we felt we had to take it a little bit easier than we first thought with Robbie,” said Schmidt, whose line-up has an average age of 29 years and 245 days. “He is fully running now and we just felt we’d rather not push ahead. Soft tissue injuries can be quite complicated.

“If you get a re-injury on the same site then you are in a situation where his World Cup could be in doubt. So we’ve taken no risk. There are times to take risks but this is a great opportunity for Darren Cave.”

Romania lost out 38-11 to France at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday and will be pressed into action only four days later against Ireland. Uneven rest periods have once again become a World Cup bugbear, with Japan suffering 45-10 defeat to Scotland just four days after stunning South Africa 34-32 in Brighton.

Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony and Iain Henderson all returned to full training for Ireland on Friday after light knocks, but will not be considered for Sunday’s match.

Surprised to learn Ireland had set a new record for the World Cup’s oldest starting XV, Schmidt joked that the 34-year-old scrum-half Eoin Reddan may have skewed the stats. “Well Eoin Reddan has probably contributed to that. Is it really?” said a bemused Schmidt. “Hopefully the team won’t show its age.”

Schmidt has named four World Cup debutants in his side: Richardt Strauss, Devin Toner, Jordi Murphy and Cave. Henshaw will remain the only man of Ireland’s squad not to feature in the competition should Schmidt empty his full bench at Wembley.

The versatile playmaker Ian Madigan will start at fly-half but Schmidt admitted the Leinster player could move to scrum-half during the course of the match. Madigan is Ireland’s third and emergency scrum-half, covering for Conor Murray and Reddan, with Schmidt keen to hand him a first Test run at scrum-half this weekend.

“We want Ian and Paddy [Jackson] both to have some time at No10,” said Schmidt. “But if the game’s going in a direction where we feel Ian would benefit from 15 minutes at No9, then that’s possible.”

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Toulon v Leinster - Champions Cup

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Leinster have retained their starting line-up from the quarter-final win over Bath for Sunday's European Champions Cup semi-final against holders Toulon.

That means centre Ben T'eo, fly-half Jimmy Gopperth and Mike McCarthy are the only starters from last weekend's damaging Pro12 defeat by the Dragons.

Irish Six Nations stars Rob Kearney, Cian Healy, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip are all named in the side.

Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny has been passed fit to start for Toulon.

Halfpenny's return after missing the 32-18 quarter-final win over Wasps means a switch to wing for ex-England international Delon Armitage.

Other backs changes from the quarter-final see Springboks star Bryan Habana replacing Drew Mitchell on the other wing and Matt Giteau taking over from injured Maxime Mermoz at centre.

Xavier Chiocci is preferred to Alexandre Menini at prop while there are two changes in the back row from the previous round with Juan Smith and Juan Fernandez Lobbe replacing Mamuka Gorgodze and Steffon Armitage.

T'eo's selection at centre for Leinster means that Gordon D'Arcy again has to be content with a place on the bench.

Last weekend's defeat by the Dragons has left Leinster's Pro12 chances hanging by a thread and the European competition is now probably their only remaining chance of silverware this season.

However, Matt O'Connor's side will be up against a big-budget Toulon side who can afford to leave top-class performers such as Steffon Armitage, Menini and Mitchell on the bench.

The French outfit are attempting to secure an unprecedented third successive European club title this season after their Heineken Cup triumphs over the past two years.

Three-time Heineken Cup champions Leinster have misfired in their defence of the Pro12 title this year and failed to score a try in their win over Bath as Ian Madigan's six penalties proved enough.

Leinster's strength in that game was their discipline as they gave few penalties and they will need a repeat of that with Wayne Barnes taking charge of Sunday's game.

However, Toulon defeated the Irish province 29-14 in last year's quarter-finals and will favourites to repeat that victory.

Toulon: Halfpenny; D Armitage, M Bastareaud, Gitea, Habana; Michalak, Tillous-Borde; Chiocci, Guirado, Hayman (capt); Botha, Williams; Smith, Fernandez Lobbe, Masoe.

Replacements: Orioli, Menini, Chilachava, S Armitage, Mitchell, Wulf, Claassens, Suta

Leinster: R Kearney; McFadden, Te'o, Madigan, Fitzgerald; Gopperth, Boss; Healy, Cronin, Ross, Toner, M McCarthy, J Murphy, O'Brien, J Heaslip.

Replacements: Strauss, J McGrath, Moore, Marshall, D Ryan, Reddan, G D'Arcy, Kirchner.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

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Toulon v Leinster - Preview

Leinster have made four changes for Sunday's Heineken Cup quarter-final against Toulon in France.

Prop Cian Healy (ankle) and flanker Rhys Ruddock (calf) return to the pack while wing Dave Kearney replaces Luke Fitzgerald after shaking off a knock.

The final change is in the half-backs, with Jimmy Gopperth selected at fly-half in place of Ian Madigan,

Jonny Wilkinson returns to lead the defending champions, with centre Matt Giteau also back in the side.

Healy makes a first start since Ireland's Six Nations triumph in Paris three weeks ago.

Devin Toner and Mike McCarthy are once again the second row combination with Leo Cullen held in reserve.

Ruddock is back in place of Kevin McLaughlin, with Shane Jennings and captain Jamie Heaslip completing the back row.

In the centre Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll continue their record-breaking partnership.

"This is a huge battle and we are under no illusions - going down to the Stade Felix Mayol is not for the faint hearted," said Leinster coach Matt O'Connor.

"We have huge respect for what they bring to the contest. They are the current Heineken Cup champions and rightly favourites.

"But we are ready for the battle. We have a fit squad that is relishing the enormity of the challenge that we face.

"This will be a squad effort and this squad has experience of big games and of grinding out big results when the odds are against them.

"Our squad is full of guys who understand the psychology of cup rugby and like our opponents have been to the summit of this amazing competition and want to revisit it."

Toulon: D Armitage; D Mitchell, M Bastareaud, M Giteau, D Smith; J Wilkinson (capt), S Tillous-Borde; X Chiocci, C Burden, C Hayman, D Rossouw, J Suta, J Smith, JF Lobbe, S Armitage.

Replacements: J-C Orioli, F Fresia, M Castrogiovanni, V Bruni, B Habana, M Mermoz, M Claassens, K Mikautadze.

Leinster: R Kearney, F McFadden, B O'Drsicoll, G D'Arcy, D Kearney, J Gopperth, E Reddan, C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, D Toner, M McCarthy, R Ruddock, S Jennings, J Heaslip (capt).

Replacements: S Cronin, J McGrath, M Moore, L Cullen, J Murphy, I Boss, I Madigan, Z Kirchner.

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

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