Ireland v Fiji: Joey Carbery to start at fly-half as one of nine Irish changes

Carbery started two games for Ireland in this year's Six Nations

Joey Carbery will start at fly-half against Fiji as Ireland head coach Andy Farrell makes nine changes from the side that beat South Africa.

Full-back Jimmy O'Brien is rewarded for a fine display off the bench against the Springboks with a first start.

Stuart McCloskey has recovered from an arm injury and will line up alongside the fit-again Robbie Henshaw at centre.

Prop Jeremy Loughman will make his debut in the front row, where he will join captain Tadhg Furlong.

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Back-row forward Cian Prendergast and Munster fly-half Jack Crowley are both also in line to make their senior debuts having been named among the replacements, following impressive performances on the recent Emerging Ireland tour.

Carbery makes his first start since Ireland's comfortable Six Nations win over Italy at the end of February, with Johnny Sexton rested.

Regular captain Sexton picked up a dead leg in the second half of the Springboks game but played on. However, he has been given an extra week to recover with one eye on the visit of Australia on 19 November.

Jamison Gibson-Park, who replaced the injured Conor Murray in the first half, starts at scrum-half.

In the pack, Furlong is one of four players to retain his spot and will skipper the side for the first time on his 62nd appearance.

"We've documented quite a bit over the last period of time just how much his leadership has come on and his standing within the group, so I am a big believer in how people make people feel," said Ireland coach Andy Farrell of Furlong.

"Not just during the week but beforehand in the dressing-room just before they go out and he becomes the obvious choice with that."

Furlong is joined in the front row by debutant Loughman and the experienced Rob Herring, whose Ulster club-mate Kieran Treadwell partners Tadhg Beirne at lock.

Having fallen behind Peter O'Mahony in the fight for a starting spot in an ultra-competitive back row, Jack Conan is given the chance to impress at number eight with Nick Timoney coming in at openside flanker.

Fiji began their northern hemisphere tour with a creditable 28-12 defeat by Scotland last Saturday.

"The unpredictability of what's coming this weekend is something that we want to get good at managing," said Farrell of the Fijian challenge.

"Because the way we want to keep developing our game with our decision-making and our skill execution under pressure that unpredictability gives us a chance to test ourselves in many ways."

Ireland: O'Brien; Baloucoune, Henshaw, McCloskey, Hansen; Carbery, Gibson-Park; Loughman, Herring, Furlong (capt), Beirne, Treadwell; Doris, Timoney, Conan.

Replacements: Sheehan, Healy, O'Toole, Prendergast, Deegan, Casey, Crowley, Ringrose.

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