Cian Healy is in line to start for Ireland against Romania in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup Pool D game in London.
The 27-year-old prop made his return from neck surgery as a substitute in last weekend’s 50-7 win over Canada at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
With crunch games with Italy on 4 October, and France seven days later, head coach Joe Schmidt will be looking to give one of his most important players more game time.
Schmidt is likely to make several changes from the Canada match as he rests some of his squad whilst giving others valuable minutes on the pitch.
Chris Henry and Jordi Murphy are set to make their first World Cup starts in the back row.
Eoin Reddan looks likely to take over from Conor Murray at the base of the scrum, while Paddy Jackson or Ian Madigan will start at out-half, should Johnny Sexton be left out.
On Thursday, Ireland manager Michael Kearney said that Schmidt had a fully fit squad to pick from, meaning that Robbie Henshaw is also in line for a return to the centre.
Ireland’s matchday 23 will be named at 12:45 on Friday afternoon.
