In the absence of Paul O’Connell, Rory Best has been named as captain and he will lead out the team for the third time. Best, whose brother Simon also captained Ireland, has previously worn the skippers armband for Ireland in wins over Canada and the USA in 2009.

Donncha Ryan will start his first RBS 6 Nations game having featured as a replacement in five previous games in the championship.

Mike McCarthy, who made his Ireland debut in the Guinness Summer Series last August is included on the bench.
Eoin Reddan will partner Jonathan Sexton in place of the injured Conor Murray with Tomas O’Leary named in the replacements.

IRELAND Team & Replacements (v Scotland, 2012 RBS 6 Nations Championship, Aviva Stadium, Saturday, March 10, kick-off 5pm):
15 - Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster)
14 - Tommy Bowe (Ospreys)
13 - Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster)
12 - Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster)
11 - Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster)
10 - Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
9 - Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster)
1 - Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster)
2 - Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt)
3 - Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster)
4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster)
5 - Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster)
6 - Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster)
7 - Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster)

Replacements:
16 - Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster)
17 - Tom Court (Malone/Ulster)
18 – Mike McCarthy (Buccaneers/Connacht)
19 – Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster)
20 – Tomas O’Leary (Dolphin/Munster)
21 - Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster)
22 - Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

For further information contact:
Karl Richardson
IRFU Communications & Media Manager
M: +353 (0) 866477874
E: karl.richardson@irfu.ie