Farrell rings the changes as Doris named as Ireland skipper for Italy clash

The sides face off at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday. 

Head coach Andy Farrell runs the rule over his players at Ireland Rugby squad training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre at the Sport Ireland Campus. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell has made six changes to his Ireland for Sunday’s Six Nations clash with Italy in Dublin.

The reigning Grand Slam champions look well set to back up last year’s success but the sense of a coach keeping one eye on the future was evident in the choice of Caelan Doris as his country’s captain for the first time.