Jamie Osborne gets the nod to fill James Lowe’s boots for Ireland against Australia

Andy Farrell has made five changes to the Ireland starting XV from the Six Nations finale win against Scotland for Saturday’s opening Nations Championship clash against Australia at Allianz Stadium in Sydney (kick-off 8.10pm local time/11.10am Irish time). The one positional switch, though, is perhaps most eye-catching, with Jamie Osborne preferred on the left wing in the absence of the discarded James Lowe.

Osborne was an ever-present in Ireland’s Six Nations campaign at fullback but with Hugo Keenan fit, fresh and “buzzing” to be back in a green jersey for the first time in 16 months, the versatile 24-year-old from Kildare is named on the left wing.

This is also because Farrell has opted to stick with the Stuart McCloskey-Garry Ringrose midfield partnership which started every game in the Six Nations, despite McCloskey not having played in 10 weeks since tearing his hamstring in the latter stages of Ulster’s Challenge Cup semi-final win over Exeter.

In addition to Keenan’s recall, as expected Sam Prendergast returns at outhalf in the enforced absence of the unlucky Jack Crowley. Sam’s brother, Cian Prendergast, also starts after his very strong end to the season with Connacht. James Ryan is also restored to the secondrow after missing the final Six Nations game against Scotland due to a calf injury. With Caelan Doris at home rehabbing a foot injury, Jack Conan is promoted to number 8.

The younger Prendergast – Sam – was displaced at outhalf for the last three rounds of the Six Nations, also losing his place in the matchday squad for both country and province. But he has shown strong mental resilience in regaining the 10 jersey for Leinster’s successful knockout run in retaining their URC title, notably with a man-of-the-match performance in the final which reminded everyone of his talent.

It’s been an admirable response and there’s something fitting about Prendergast being afforded the opportunity to demonstrate his ability to take the ball to the line and use his array of passing and kicking in a country that produced the Ella brothers and Stephen Larkham.

Dan Sheehan captains the side from an unchanged frontrow, where Tom O’Toole is retained at loosehead after impressing in Ireland’s last two games. He is also back in the country where he was reared for a decade until his mid-teens.

His 15 starts for Ulster this season have all been at tighthead but it’s less of an ask switching across to loosehead and in this way, O’Toole’s dynamism and edge can be accommodated. There’s certainly been no doubting Farrell’s belief in the player either.

Jeremy Loughman and Thomas Clarkson are restored as replacements, where they will join Tadhg Beirne, who has overcome the knee injury he suffered in Munster’s win over Ulster 10 weeks ago. The remainder of the bench is the same as was the case against Scotland, with the Connacht-bound Ciarán Frawley the back-up outhalf and Bundee Aki wearing 23.

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In the immediate fallout of Lowe controversially not being retained by Leinster and the IRFU, choosing Osborne on the left wing is something of a signature selection by Farrell and further underlines the head coach’s belief in the player. This was also evident in Osborne’s call-up to last summer’s Lions squad, thereby helping to swell the Irish playing representation to 18. He is one of 14 from that contingent who are among Ireland’s 36-man squad for this end-of-season tour.

Keenan, of course, is another, and will return to the Test arena in the same city where he last played international rugby, namely in the Wallabies’ third Test win over the Lions. That came a week after the Leinster and Ireland fullback had scored the match-winning 80th-minute try in the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

He then underwent an operation on an existing hip problem which ruled him out of the Autumn Nations Series. This was compounded by the fractured thumb he suffered in a freakish training ground accident during the squad’s pre-Six Nations training camp in the Algarve.

When Keenan was ruled out of the 2024 two-match series in South Africa, Farrell plumped for the uncapped Osborne to make his debut against the Springboks even though he had never started there for Leinster. Osborne excelled, especially in the second Test in Durban.

Last November, Farrell again turned to Osborne, who started in the loss to New Zealand in Chicago and the win over Japan, during which he suffered a dislocated shoulder, whereupon Mack Hansen played against Australia and South Africa.

But with Hansen also ruled out of the Six Nations, the head coach restored Osborne at fullback for the opening game in Paris despite him not having played once for Leinster in the interim.

Osborne has played on the left wing just once this season and since the Scotland game, his eight ensuing starts for Leinster have all been at inside centre. But he is picked ahead of Jacob Stockdale and Jimmy O’Brien, two other left-footed players who are also more used to playing on the left wing.

All but two of Osborne’s 15 Irish caps to date have been starts. Of those, 11 have been at fullback, one on the left wing when wearing 14 and one, last summer against Georgia, at outside centre.

So, this will be his first Test on the left wing, but as well as clearly being Farrell’s type of player, he perhaps the most like-for-like replacement for Lowe. Osborne has a big left boot and, as he showed with that fine finish against England, he can hover behind the 10-12-13 axis as both a trick runner and a decoy – an important cog in a Farrell attack which often saw Lowe in off his wing to be employed in such a manner.

Ireland: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Rob Baloucoune (Ulster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Jamie Osborne (Leinster); Sam Prendergast (Leinster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster); Cian Prendergast (Connacht), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Jack Conan (Leinster).

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