Andy Farrell's men had long finished their 82-8 destruction of Romania, on Saturday, when Johnny Sexton flung his hat in for the Ireland team to face Tonga.
. 12 of the players that started against England in the second RWC warm-up were in the starting line-up against Romania.
This weekend, in Nantes, we should see several of the Ireland players that got starts against Samoa in the final warm-up match. Robbie Henshaw was not risked after feeling a tender hamstring in last Friday's captain's run, but both Farrell and assistant coach Simon Easterby insist he is in contention for Tonga.
The Ireland team we have listed below is the starting XV we feel can do a number against Tonga, with several frontliners on the bench. We would have Sexton on the bench, and would start, who had two fine warm-up games and came off the bench against Romania. Personally, we would leave Sexton out of the matchday 23 entirely, but if the captain feels he needs more minutes, he can have the place of Ross Byrne on the replacements bench.
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