Carbery in at fly-half for Australia clash

Joe Schmidt has handed Joe Carbery a start in Ireland’s first Test against Australia on Saturday.

Carbery will operate at fly-half with Schmidt resting a number of Leinster players following their long season.

Gary Ringrose and Dan Leavy have not been included in the squad whilst Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong are on the bench.

Peter O’Mahony will captain Ireland at the Suncorp Stadium following the injury to Rory Best. With Best out, Ulster’s Rob Herring will start in the front row alongside Jack McGrath and John Ryan.

The Six Nations champions have also selected Robbie Henshaw at outside centre and he is joined by Bundee Aki.

Carbery has mainly played his rugby at full-back for the newly crowned European and Pro 14 Champions Leinster, but on the international stage, he has been used at Number 10 to fill in for Sexton.

This time 12 months ago, Sexton was involved in a gruelling Lions tour against New Zealand so he and his Leinster team-mates may be pleased with the rest in this first outing against the Wallabies.

Ireland have won their last two matches against Australia, most recently in Dublin where they triumphed 27-24 in November 2016, but they have not won a Test in Australia since 1979.

As for Australia, head coach Michael Cheika has included Waratahs hooker Tolu Latu in the squad for the upcoming series against Ireland.

The decision follows after Melbourne Rebels hooker Jordan Uelese has been ruled out of the remainder of the Super Rugby season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament during the game against Blues last weekend.

Apart from the 25-year-old, Cheika has also added Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Folau Faingaa in the squad ahead of the first Test that kicks-off at 11:00 BST before games in Melbourne and Sydney over the next couple of weeks.

Australia: Folau; Koroibete, Kerevi, Beale, Haylett-Petty; Foley, Genia; Sio, Paenga-Amosa, Kepu, Rodda, Coleman, Pocock, Hooper, Timu.

Ireland: R Kearney; Earls, Henshaw, Aki, Stockdale; Carbery, Murray; McGrath, Herring, Ryan, Henderson, Ryan, O'Mahony, Murphy, Stander.