Leinster heavy hitters back to boost Ireland

JOE SCHMIDT is set to bring a clutch of key players back into the starting 15 today as he looks to rescue Ireland’s tour of Australia in Melbourne on Saturday. Schmidt is expected to make eight changes to the team that lost 18-9 in Brisbane last Saturday, with five Leinster players set to be restored to the Ireland pack. James Ryan, CJ Stander and Peter O’Mahony are likely to be the only forwards to keep their places for the second Test, at AAMI Park, with the all-Leinster front-row of Cian Healy, Sean Cronin and Tadhg Furlong returning to the line-up, while Devin Toner will partner James Ryan in the second-row. Dan Leavy will start at openside as Schmidt looks to negate the influence of Australia flanker David Pocock, the Leinster star lining up alongside O’Mahony and Stander. O’Mahony will continue to lead the side in the absence of injured captain Rory Best. As expected, the Joey Carbery experiment will be put on hold as Schmidt turns to the tried and trusted pairing of Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray in a bid to keep the series alive before next weekend’s third and final Test in Sydney. In midfield, Bundee Aki is set to drop to the bench with

From Back Page Garry Ringrose starting at 13 and Robbie Henshaw shifting to the No12 shirt. Schmidt will keep faith with Keith Earls (left) and Jacob Stockdale on the wings, while Rob Kearney will again start at fullback. Earls failed a head injury assessment after coming off during the first Test, but is on course to be passed fit to play. On the bench there is a possibility that Schmidt will call in Tadhg Beirne, with the uncapped Munster-bound player able to provide cover in both the back-row and second-row. Meanwhile, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is expected to name an unchanged team for the second Test. There was a suspicion that Cheika would bring Ned Hanigan back into the Wallabies team at blindside following his recovery from a knee injury, but it is believed the former Leinster boss will keep the No6 in reserve. Scrum-half Will Genia says the Wallabies are likely to mix up their game this weekend after kicking 25 times last Saturday. ‘There will be a bit more variation in terms of run and kick,’ said Genia. ‘But we still want to kick the ball because the two tries we scored came off the back of kicks and putting them in the right position.’ Over 28,000 tickets have been sold for the game at the 30,000 capacity stadium, despite the match clashing with Australia’s opening World Cup clash with France.