Joe Schmidt, the Ireland head coach, has defended his decision to pair inexperienced centres Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne in the Test with South Africa tomorrow, rather than press Gordon D'Arcy into action.
D'Arcy has recovered from a calf injury but both Henshaw and Payne have been included in the starting XV, having previously been identified as prospect replacements for the now retired Brian O'Driscoll.
"It was what was available to us at the start of the week," said Schmidt. "Robbie Henshaw's flexibility to play 12 or 13 is similar to Jared, but that's the way they trained last week so we've gone with that."
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