Ireland team to face England in Six Nations

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has named his team for Saturday's Grand Slam encounter with England at Twickenham.

Iain Henderson has dislodged Devin Toner to start.

Peter O'Mahony, Rob Kearney and Cian Healy have been passed fit for Ireland's all-out assault on a Six Nations clean sweep.

British and Irish Lions lock Henderson's selection represents the sole change from Ireland's 28-8 win over Scotland, that sealed their third Six Nations title in five years.

Flanker O'Mahony and full-back Kearney sat out training on Tuesday, but have since proved their fitness to start the St Patrick's Day clash.

Prop Healy appeared unsteady on his feet against Scotland, but Ireland insisted he suffered a shoulder "stinger", not a head injury.

Tensions around Saturday's London battle have been raised considerably by the emergence of a video where England boss Eddie Jones referred to the "scummy Irish".

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) has received an apology from the Rugby Football Union.

Jones apologised on Wednesday after footage emerged of him referring to Joe Schmidt's team as the "scummy Irish" and Wales as a "little s*** place".

The video showed Jones during a talk on leadership for Fuso, the Japanese parent company of England sponsors Mitsubishi.

Jones insisted he was "very sorry" after the video came to light.

Ireland boss Schmidt insisted England boss Jones' filmed comments will not alter his side's approach this week.

"I'm not exactly sure what they were," said Schmidt. "They are not directly relevant to us to be honest.

"Those words don't impact on how we play or how his team plays and that's our focus."

Asked if the furore over Jones' comments will hinder Ireland's preparation, Schmidt said: "I don't think so.

"I know it's probably at the stage of being boring, which we don't want to be described as, but the bubble we have here allows us to focus on the task in hand."

Ireland team to play England

FORWARDS: 1 Cian Healy (Leinster), 2 Rory Best (CAPTAIN, 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)

BACKS: 9 Conor Murray (Munster), 10 Johnny Sexton (Leinster), 11 Jacob Stockdale (Ulster), 12 Bundee Aki (Connacht), 13 Garry Ringrose (Leinster), 14 Keith Earls (Munster), 15 Rob Kearney (Leinster)

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)

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