Ireland were ruthlessly dismantled by France last week. Having seen his side dominated in the air, Farrell has responded by removing wingers Stockdale and O’Brien and elevating James Lowe and Baloucoune.
The hope is they will both help steer Ireland away from a lack of intent on Saturday.
Lowe, a British and Irish Lion who has been virtually ever-present for Farrell’s Ireland, was dropped for Stockdale while in-form Ulsterman Baloucoune is back in a green jersey for the first time since November 2022.
And while Nick Timoney is unfortunate not to start after his effective introduction off the bench in Paris, Izuchukwu – another of Baloucoune’s Ulster team-mates – should add to Ireland’s dynamism and ball-carrying threat in the back row.
There is excitement, too, over Edogbo’s inclusion on the bench. The 6ft 5ins, 127kg lock’s young career has been ravaged by injury, but his performances for Munster this season have been difficult to overlook.
For Doris, there is a switch back to open-side flanker, where Farrell has twice used him before against Italy. He scored two tries against the Azzurri while performing that role in a World Cup warm-up game in 2023 and again slotted in at seven for Ireland’s 36-0 win two years ago.
Regardless of where he plays, though, Doris just wants to see Ireland move past their Parisian pain and put in a statement performance before next week’s trip to title contenders England.
“There’s been several chats throughout the week,” added the 27-year-old.
“The big thing has been about holding each other more accountable as a leadership group, as a wider group, all of us taking full ownership and driving things in the right direction.
“We’ve kind of spoken a little bit about last week being a reference point that we’ll hopefully look back on from a place of improvement this week, but also going forward as well.
“There’s a realisation that we do need to improve, but there is still belief in what we’re doing, and just the need to do things properly.”
