DECLAN KIDNEY HAS has again shuffled his Ireland pack.

Jonny Sexton and Andrew Trimble return while Ronan O’Gara and Luke Fitzgerald drop to the bench for the final Six Nations game with England in Dublin on Saturday.

Keith Earls moves to full back in place of Fitzgerald while Trimble comes into the team on the left wing for his first start in this year’s Championship. When asked about the Fitzgerald’s exclusion, Kidney said:

“If Luke has made any errors lately it’s probably because he’s tried too hard.

“He’s probably just been over stretching himself ever so slightly and his timing has been a small bit off and I think Andrew has been knocking on the door and Keith [Earls] is in good form so it’s a good combination for us to have this weekend,” he added.

Kidney was typically diplomatic when asked why the Ulster man got the nod ahead of Fitzgerald’s Leinster team-mate Fergus McFadden.

“Andrew was showing great form coming up to the Six Nations, going really well for Ulster and got an unfortunate bang,” the Corkman explained this lunchtime. “Fergus was in great form, got called in, played a couple of A matches and played very well in those.

“Then Andrew worked his way back in through training, played Magners League matches and Fergus played very well in the first two but over the intervening period Andrew has worked his way back through matches with Ulster.”

The other main talking point of course, is Jonathon Sexton’s promotion at the expense of Ronan O’Gara. Kidney says that the Leinster out half is due a run.

“We’re blessed with two good 10s, like I’ve always said.

“In the same way as I felt after the French game that it was right to give Ronan a go at the next two, I think Jonathon deserves his shot now.”

Ireland: Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Andrew Trimble, Jonathan Sexton, Eoin Reddan, Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Sean O’Brien, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Leo Cullen, Denis Leamy, Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara, Paddy Wallace.#