Ireland hand James Lowe debut for Autumn Nations Cup opener against Wales

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has named two uncapped players in the matchday squad for the Autumn Nations Cup opener against Wales to be played at Aviva Stadium on Friday.

James Lowe, who became eligible to represent Ireland starts at left wing with Hugo Keenan at right and Jacob Stockdale retains his fullback position. Robbie Henshaw returns to midfield at the expense of Bundee Aki and will form centre partnership with Chris Farrell.

Johnny Sexton captaining the side will continue to take the kicking responsibility forming halfback partnership with Jamison Gibson-Park. The second row also sees a change with Iain Henderson replacing Tadhg Beirne and in the front row Rob Herring makes way for Ronan Kelleher.

The final two changes see Peter O’Mahony and Josh van der Flier returning to back row while Billy Burns will be hoping to win his first cap after being named on the bench that also has Conor Murray and Keith Earls.

Ireland starting line-up: 15 Jacob Stockdale, 14 Hugo Keenan, 13 Chris Farrell, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jonathan Sexton (c), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Andrew Porter, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Cian Healy

Reserves: 16 Dave Heffernan, 17 Ed Byrne, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Quinn Roux, 20 Will Connors, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Billy Burns, 23 Keith Earls