Ireland lose hooker Dan Sheehan ahead of crunch France clash

Rob Herring will deputise for Sheehan in the only change to the team which began last weekend's 34-10 win in Wales, with the fit-again Ronan Kelleher added to the replacements.

Sheehan has been almost ever-present since coming off the bench to replace the injured Kelleher in last year's 30-24 defeat to Les Bleus in Paris.

The 24-year-old was this week hailed as possibly the best hooker in world rugby by former Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll and will be a significant absentee for the crunch clash in Dublin.

He has started nine of his country's last 10 matches, including all three Tests in last summer's victorious tour of New Zealand, with the exception being a substitute appearance against Fiji in the autumn.

In more positive news for head coach Andy Farrell, scrum-half Conor Murray, who emerged as a potential injury doubt on Wednesday evening, has been passed fit to continue his half-back partnership with skipper Johnny Sexton.

"It's not nice for Dan," said Farrell. "Obviously he's a fantastic player at the top of his form, isn't he?

"Anyone would miss a player in that type of form. But at the same time, it's great in the sense that this is exactly what's going to happen down the track in the World Cup.

"International rugby is only going to get bigger and better, so therefore it's always going to be about the squad.

"When you get to the World Cup, you've a smaller squad, there's a 12-day turnaround there as far as concussion is concerned, so you're always going to be numbers down and you've got to be able to roll with the punches.

"We're happy with how our squad is developing, pushing each other, competing against each other.

"Rob has always added to our performance, let's put it that way, and I also think he can do a good job in this type of game for us."

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 James Lowe, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O™Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Andrew Porter.

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Tom O™Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Bundee Aki.