British & Irish Lions
• British & Irish Lions tour Australia in 2013
Ireland Rugby
Murphy to replace Dempsey
Girvan Dempsey’s injury has made way for Geordan Murphy to get his first World Cup start against Argentina on Sunday.
Eddie O’Sullivan hasn’t hit the panic button after two disappointing performances though. Denis Hickie is also in for Andrew Trimble.
The pack should be left largely unchanged, but an injury worry over Jerry Flannery’s shoulder could force Rory Best to make a faster than expected return from his fractured thumb.
O’Sullivan explained that Murphy’s inclusion had nothing to do with Dempsey’s absence.
“Geordan would have been included in the back three anyway – he has the kind of attacking edge we need this weekend,” he said.
“The roles are reversed with Denis (Hickie) in for Andrew (Trimble).
“The selections from last week and for this week were based on what we were expecting from France and now Argentina. It was a tight selection call between them.
“I’m pretty happy with the back three. There’s a lot of experience in it and a lot of strike power and hopefully it will come into play on Sunday.”
Murphy didn’t even make it onto the bench for the France game after Gavin Duffy was brought in. Duffy now has to make way for Trimble who can cover centre and wing.
In what could be Hickie’s final international game (he’s retiring after the World Cup), Ireland need to score four or more tries against Argentina and defeat them by more than seven points to go through to the quarter-final stage.
Argentina have not so far had anyone go over their line in the tournament.