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Ireland team v Fiji: Mack Hansen makes positional shift as Andy Farrell picks debutant on bench
Mack Hansen starts at full-back for Ireland and James McNabney is on the bench.
Mack Hansen starts at full-back for Ireland and James McNabney is on the bench.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has made a handful of changes to his line-up that will take on Fiji in their second Nations Championship clash of the month.

Tadhg Beirne will skipper the side at the Aviva Stadium for the first time, replacing injured hooker Dan Sheehan as the new captain on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ulster back-row James McNabney is in line to make his Test bow in the green jersey as he’s been named on the replacements bench.

Good win over Argentina

Ireland opened their November campaign with a bonus-point victory over Argentina in Dublin last week and are bidding to build further cohesion.

In other team news, Mack Hansen is selected to start at full-back, with Robert Baloucoune and Tommy O’Brien starting on the wings for Ireland.

Bundee Aki has recovered from illness to run out alongside Jamie Osborne as the duo replace Stuart McCloskey and Robbie Henshaw in midfield.

In the half-backs, Jamison Gibson-Park and Sam Prendergast will be the pairing, with the former coming in for Craig Casey at nine this weekend.

Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher and Tadhg Furlong start in the front-row against Fiji while James Ryan and captain Beirne are in the engine room.

Ryan Baird continues at blindside flanker in Dublin, Josh van der Flier comes in at openside and Nick Timoney shifts to the number eight position.

On the bench for this Nations Championship meeting, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Sam Illo, Darragh Murray and debutant McNabney are the forward replacements, while Casey, Ciarán Frawley and McCloskey are the backline options available to head coach Farrell on Saturday night.

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Ireland team to face Fiji

Ireland: 15 Mack Hansen, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Jamie Osborne, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Tommy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Nick Timoney, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Ryan Baird, 5 Tadhg Beirne (c), 4 James Ryan, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rónan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Tom Stewart, 17 Tom O’Toole, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Darragh Murray, 20 James McNabney, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ciarán Frawley, 23 Stuart McCloskey

Date: Saturday, 14 November 2026
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Kick-off: 20:10 (local), 20:10 (UK), 21:10 (France), 22:10 (South Africa), 07:10 (15 November, AEDT), 09:10 (15 November, New Zealand), 17:10 (Argentina), 05:10 (15 November, JST), 15:10 (EST)
Referee: Angus Gardner (RA)
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce (RFU) and Damon Murphy (RA)
TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
FPRO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
Broadcasters: Virgin Media Television (Republic of Ireland), ITV / ITVX (United Kingdom), SuperSport (South Africa / Africa), TF1 (France), Sky Italia (Italy), Nine Network / Stan Sport (Australia), Sky Sport (New Zealand), FloSports (USA), Wowow (Japan)

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