Rory Best has shaken off a calf injury to be named as Ireland captain for today’s home Six Nations match against Scotland in a battle to nail down third place.
“Rory Best trained fully today too, and showed no ill effects of the tight calf that he had on Monday,” Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said of the Ulster hooker who will play his 32nd consecutive Six Nations match.
Munster flanker Tommy O’Donnell has been preferred to Leinster young gun Josh van der Flier at openside in Ireland’s only change, with Schmidt mindful of countering Scotland’s impressive breakdown work.
“We’ve tried to balance opportunity with continuity across the course of the Six Nations and we hope that will bear fruit in future,” Schmidt said.
Simon Zebo starts at full-back as expected with Rob Kearney again sidelined with hamstring trouble, while Keith Earls will win his 50th cap on the left
wing.
Defending champions Ireland surrendered their title by drawing with Wales (16-16) and losing in France (10-9) and England (21-10), so are now bidding to finish with something of a flourish. Best’s recovery from calf trouble should ensure a steady scrum, though Ireland are sufficiently concerned about Scotland’s set-piece to select big-scrummaging Richardt Strauss on the bench ahead of Sean Cronin.
Leinster’s fast-developing flanker Van der Flier has proved his wide Test potential, seizing on Ireland’s raft of back-row injuries during this tournament.
Ireland are desperate to end their campaign with a second victory after having seen off Italy (58-15), however, leaving Schmidt refusing to take any chances, and restoring 28-year-old O’Donnell to his starting back-row cordon.
Connacht’s talented 22-year-old lock Ultan Dillane has another chance to impress off the bench, while fit-again Cian Healy and Eoin Reddan are restored to the replacements after missing last weekend’s rout of Italy.

Team (15-1)
Simon Zebo; Andrew Trimble, Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jamie Heaslip, Tommy O’Donnell, CJ Stander; Devin Toner, Donnacha Ryan; Mike Ross, Rory Best (capt), Jack McGrath
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Cian Healy, Nathan White, Ultan Dillane, Rhys Ruddock, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Fergus McFadden.

Scotland make three changes for Ireland finale
Scotland coach Vern Cotter has made three changes to his side for Saturday’s match against Ireland in Dublin as they look to finish this season’s Six Nations with a third straight win. Duncan Weir has replaced Finn Russell at fly-half after his Glasgow colleague was ruled out with a concussion suffered in the opening minutes of the team’s 29-18 victory over France at Murrayfield last weekend.
Meanwhile New Zealander Cotter has made two changes in the pack with Ryan Wilson coming in for Josh Strauss at No 8 and Tim Swinson taking over in the second row from injured lock Jonny Gray (chest muscle). Saturday’s match at Lansdowne Road will see Weir lining up alongside captain and scrum-half Greig Laidlaw, who is set to break David Sole’s record of 25 Tests as Scotland skipper.
Defeats by England (15-9) and Wales (27-23) in their opening two matches of this season’s Championship meant Scotland had gone nine successive Six Nations matches without a win. But a 36-20 victory away to Italy in Rome stopped the rot before Scotland beat France for the first time in a decade last weekend. “We were pleased with our sustained effort against France,” said Cotter in a Scottish Rugby Union statement after announcing his team. “I was happy with the way we adapted to losing Finn so early in the game. The team came together and was rewarded for their endeavour with the end result.” But this weekend Scotland face an Ireland side who scored nine tries during a 58-15 thrashing of Italy in Dublin last Saturday.
Remarkably, that was defending champions Ireland’s first win of the tournament after an opening 16-16 draw with Wales was followed by defeats against both France (10-9) and England (21-10).
Cotter was well aware of the task now facing a buoyant Scotland team.
“The challenge for us now is to keep constructing our game and enjoy the last coming together of the championship in a Scotland jersey, against an Ireland team full of confidence after a convincing win over Italy,” he said.
Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Duncan Taylor, Alex Dunbar, Tim Visser; Duncan Weir, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Ryan Wilson, John Hardie, John Barclay; Tim Swinson, Richie Gray; Willem Nel, Ross Ford, Alasdair Dickinson.
Replacements: Stuart McInally, Rory Sutherland, Moray Low, Rob Harley, Josh Strauss, Henry Pyrgos, Pete Horne, Sean Lamont.