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Farrell sticks to winning formula for England clash

Dublin - Ireland coach Andy Farrell named an unchanged starting lineup for Sunday's Six Nations clash with England to the one that impressed in the 24-14 victory over 2019 Grand Slam winners Wales.

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Victory for Farrell's side would seal the Triple Crown and keep them on course for a second Grand Slam in three years - they sealed the 2018 edition by winning at Twickenham.

However, Eddie Jones' men have soundly beaten them twice since - inflicting a rare home defeat last year and then whipping them in a World Cup warm-up at Twickenham.

Farrell, who was defence coach under Joe Schmidt for those matches, has begun life as head coach with wins over Scotland and then Wales both in Dublin.

The 44-year-old Englishman, who will pit his wits against son and England captain Owen, has been boosted by centre Robbie Henshaw being passed fit after suffering a head injury in the Wales game.

Talismanic fly-half and captain Johnny Sexton will be partnered at half-back by Conor Murray for the 59th time.

Murray had been under pressure for the starting spot but a sparkling performance against Wales has seen him stave off rival John Cooney's claims for the moment.

That is the case also for Murray's Munster team-mate in back-row forward Peter O'Mahony.

The 30-year-old had been omitted form the starting side for the Scotland game but came on after five minutes to replace Caelan Doris, who took a knock to the head on his debut.

The highly-rated Doris has returned but only on the replacements bench with O'Mahony's sterling two performances earning him the starting spot.

Teams

England

TBA

Ireland

15 Jordan Larmour; 14 Andrew Conway, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Jacob Stockdale; 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Conor Murray; 8 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O'Mahony; 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson; 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Cian Healy

Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Devin Toner, 20 Caelan Doris, 21 John Cooney, 22 Ross Byrne, 23 Keith Earls

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