Ireland to field oldest World Cup team

Joe Schmidt, the Ireland head coach, joked that he hoped his team would “not show its age” after naming the oldest starting XV in World Cup history for their clash with Romania at Wembley today. With an average age of 29 years and 245 days, he said he hoped they would instead show “a little energy and enthusiasm “because I think we’ll need it”.

Schmidt has made 12 changes to the side who thumped Canada 50-7 in Cardiff last Saturday, with key players Jonathan Sexton, Peter O’Mahony and Iain Henderson all rested.

Captain Paul O’Connell will start on the bench, while centre Robbie Henshaw is not risked as he continues his return from a hamstring injury picked up last week.

Instead, Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe and Darren Cave come into the back line alongside Jared Payne and Keith Earls, with Ian Madigan at fly-half instead of Paddy Jackson.

Schmidt said that the versatile Madigan might even replace Eoin Reddan at scrum-half near the end of the match, depending on how things are going, with the New Zealander keen to give him some game time after having picked only two specialist scrum-halves in the squad.
He is also keen to give Jackson some time at fly-half.

“But if the game’s going in a direction where we feel Ian would benefit from 15 minutes at No 9, then that’s possible.”
In the pack, Cian Healy will make his first start since neck surgery at loosehead, Nathan White starts instead of Mike Ross at tighthead, hooker

Richardt Strauss is preferred to Sean Cronin, and Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan replace O’Connell and Henderson in the second row.
Jordi Murphy and Chris Henry will join Jamie Heaslip, captain for the day, in the back row.

Told that it was, at least according to the Rugby World Cup organisers, the oldest starting XV in World Cup history, Schmidt looked momentarily stunned before joking that 34-year-old scrum-half Eoin Reddan, sitting next to him, must have skewed the stats.

Schmidt added that Henshaw, the 22-year-old centre who made such a big impression in this year’s Six Nations, was running again but said he preferred not to risk him this weekend.
Today’s Fixtures
Australia v Uruguay (1pm)
Scotland v USA (330pm)
Ireland v Romania (545pm) – Telegraph.