Ireland’s flanker O’Brien back for Scotland

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt named fit again flanker Sean O’Brien in a strong Irish pack to face Scotland tomorrow but said he may be without injured flyhalf Johnny Sexton for the opening two Six Nations games.O’Brien trained fully this week after recovering from a calf injury and joins Jamie Heaslip and CJ Stander in the same back row that started Ireland’s bruising loss to New Zealand in Dublin last November.British and Irish Lions flyhalf Sexton, who has struggled for fitness all season, was ruled out of the opener in Edinburgh earlier this week after complaining of tightness in his injured calf, joining centre Jared Payne on the sidelines.Paddy Jackson take Sexton’s place at number 10 while Schmidt has plenty of options at centre, opting to start the exciting young Leinster combination of Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose.“I’d say realistically Johnny is an outside chance for Italy. He’s probably played about 82 minutes for the national team in the last eight test matches, so for us it is a real frustration,” Schmidt told a news conference on Thursday.“In the three Six Nations I have been involved in, Johnny has dominated the number 10 position so we’re still hopeful that he can come back in and do that for us. At the same time, Paddy has trained really well and it’s not like he hasn’t had some really good experience in recent times at a very high level.”Elsewhere combative Ulster lock Iain Henderson starts beside Devin Toner in the second row after Donnacha Ryan, a key part of the successful November series when Ireland beat the All Blacks in Chicago and Australia, was not risked after returning to training this week from a niggling medial ligament injury.Schmidt said he was pretty confident winger Andrew Trimble would be fit for next week’s game in Rome but flanker Peter O’Mahony was highly unlikely to feature with a hamstring strain.Ireland team: 15-Rob Kearney, 14-Keith Earls, 13-Robbie Henshaw, 12-Garry Ringrose, 11-Simon Zebo, 10-Paddy Jackson, 9-Conor Murray; 8-Jamie Heaslip, 7-Sean O’Brien, 6-CJ Stander, 5-Devin Toner, 4-Iain Henderson, 3-Tadhg Furlong, 2-Rory Best (captain), 1-Jack McGrathReplacements: 16-Niall Scannell, 17-Cian Healy, 18-John Ryan, 19-Ultan Dillane, 20-Josh van der Flier, 21-Kieran Marmion, 22-Ian Keatley, 23-Tommy Bowe.Jones backs Itoje to fill Robshaw’s shoesBagshot: England coach Eddie Jones is confident Maro Itoje can make up for the absence of Chris Robshaw when the Grand Slam champions begin the defence of their Six Nations title against France at Twickenham tomorrow.Saracens star Itoje has been shifted from his usual lock role for a first Test appearance at blindside flanker after former England captain Robshaw was ruled out of the whole Six Nations with a shoulder injury.Robshaw has been a central figure during England’s run of 14 successive wins, 13 of which have come under Australian boss Jones.“He (Itoje) has got big shoes to fill,” said Jones at England’s training base in Bagshot, southwest of London, yesterday.“Chris Robshaw has been one of our integral players in the team with his work rate but Maro has trained well in that position and we believe he can make a really good fist of it.“He brings his line-out skills. He will give us a third jumper in the line which will make Steve Borthwick (the England forwards coach) happy.“It’s a great opportunity for Maro to show his versatility, he’s trained well in that position and we believe he could make a really good fist of it.”England will be without lock George Kruis, Itoje’s regular second row partner for both club and country, because of a knee injury suffered in training on Wednesday.“George is with the surgeon now and we should get more information on him this (Thursday) afternoon,” said Jones.“We haven’t given up hope of him featuring in the Six Nations.”In the backs, Jones has brought in Elliot Daly on the left wing for his first Test since he was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Argentina in November. “Elliot did superbly for us in the autumn,” said Jones. “He has a big left-foot kick and he has genuine pace.”Turning to France, who ran both world champions New Zealand and Australia close in two defeats in November, Jones said: “France have been improving steadily under (coach) Guy Noves. They have really got the passion back into their game. “We have to be very rigorous and disciplined in the way we play. We have a very strong bench to finish it off for us.”