Italy

Ireland v Italy team news

Declan Kidney has named an unchanged starting line-up for the clash with Italy at the Aviva Stadium. Jonathan Sexton has made a full recovery from the thigh muscle injury sustained before the postponed match against France and starts at uothalf. The fixture launches a gruelling schedule of four games in as many weeks as Ireland suffer the consequences of the aborted showdown at the Stade de France 10 days ago.

Kidney has acknowledged there will be an issue regarding match rustiness given the starting line-up have played only once over the last four weekends – and in Keith Earls's case not at all – while Sexton has played just once in five weeks. Training has thus been tweaked, with some extra contact work in 15-a-side match situations in last week's curtailed one-day get-together and again yesterday.

Italy coach Jacques Brunel has made four changes with Tobias Botes coming in at outhalf, thus earning his first Azzurri start. Kristopher Burton relegated to the bench alongside Gonzalo Canale, whose place at number 12 is taken by Alberto Sgarbi.

Benetton Treviso loosehead prop Michele Rizzo will make his Six Nations debut in Dublin, replacing veteran Andrea Lo Cicero, who drops to the bench. Lorenzo Cittadini will make his first appearance in this year's tournament replacing injured Leicester prop Martin Castrogiovanni. Castrogiovanni will miss the rest of the tournament after sustaining a fractured rib in the defeat by England.

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), K Earls (Munster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); J Sexton (Leinster), C Murray (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), R Best (Ulster), M Ross (Leinster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster, capt), S Ferris (Ulster), S O'Brien (Leinster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: S Cronin (Leinster), T Court (Ulster), D Ryan (Munster), P O'Mahony (Munster), E Reddan (Leinster), R O'Gara (Munster), F McFadden (Leinster).

Italy: A Masi (Aironi Rugby); G Venditti (Aironi Rugby), T Benvenuti (Benetton Treviso), A Sgarbi (Benetton Treviso) , L McLean (Benetton Treviso); T Botes (Benetton Treviso), E Gori (Benetton Treviso); M Rizzo (Benetton Treviso), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), L Cittadini (Benetton Treviso), Q Geldenhuys (Aironi Rugby), M Bortolami (Aironi Rugby), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso), R Barbieri (Benetton Treviso), S Parisse (Stade Francais). Replacements: T D'Apice (Aironi Rugby),F Staibano (Aironi Rugby), A Pavanello (Benetton Treviso), S Favaro (Aironi Rugby), F Semenzato (Benetton Treviso), K Burton (Benetton Treviso), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro Paris), G Toniolatti (Aironi Rugby).