Rejuvenated Fitzgerald in line for first Ireland start since 2011

Luke Fitzgerald could be in line for his first Ireland start since before the 2011 World Cup when Joe Schmidt names his team today for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations 2014 opener with Scotland.

After an injury-hit two years, Leinster wing Fitzgerald has been in flying form for his province this season and stands ready for a first starting role since a World Cup warm-up against France two and a half years ago in August 2011.

The 2009 Grand Slam winner was left out of Declan Kidney’s tournament squad that headed to New Zealand and has failed to regain a starting place since, making just four appearances, all off the bench.

The last of those came in November against New Zealand and Fitzgerald appears set for promotion in the absence through injury of Tommy Bowe, likely forming a back three with Leinster team-mates Rob Kearney, at full-back, and Dave Kearney, both of whom started against the All Blacks in that heartbreaking late defeat.

The other possible change to the Ireland backline from that game could see Luke Marshall replace Gordon D’Arcy at inside centre with the young Ulster midfielder set to earn his fifth cap a year after having made his championship debut against the Scots at Murrayfield.

Aside from Bowe’s absence, the only other enforced change from the side Schmidt sent out against his native New Zealand will be at openside flanker with Sean O’Brien ruled out for the entire campaign following shoulder surgery. Ulsterman Chris Henry is the favourite to replace him in the No 7 jersey having seen off the claims of Tommy Donnell and Jordi Murphy for the back row spot.

Otherwise it’s the core of the team that got off to a lightning start against the All Blacks with three tries in 19 minutes against the world champions, only to go down 24-22. That was a defeat that has been difficult to shake off but assistant coach Les Kiss said lessons had to be learned heading into this weekend’s clash with the Scots.

“The All Blacks match was also a culmination of what we were trying to piece together — the jigsaw — over those three or four weeks in November and some nice things came through for us,” Kiss said.

“It’s there, but it is in the distant past and its relevance will probably be more important when we look at the result after the Scotland game, I guess.

“Getting the right things right, the detail right, the processes right that ensures we are in front for every minute of this game — if we can do that and bring those things forward into now, that’s the important thing.

“But I think overall the challenge for us is to take the things we worked on there and ramp up different elements of our defensive game to shift it tactically in a way that is different from the last two years, and hopefully we’re going to see some benefits form that.”

Ireland (possible): R Kearney; D Kearney, B O’Driscoll, L Marshall/G D’Arcy L Fitzgerald; J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, M Ross, D Toner, P O’Connell — captain, P O’Mahony, C Henry, J Heaslip.