Six Nations 2026: ‘No passengers’ as Ireland look to bounce back against Italy

France mercilessly dismantled Ireland last week. Having seen his team dominate the air, Farrell responded by removing wingers Stockdale and O’Brien and raising James Lowe and Balokoni.

The hope is that both will help steer Ireland away from a lack of intent on Saturday.

Lowe, the British and Irish lion who was a virtual presence in Farrell’s Ireland squad, has been left out of Stockdale’s squad while in-form Ulsterman Baloucoune returns to the green jersey for the first time since November 2022.

While Nick Timoney was unfortunate not to start after being effective as a substitute in Paris, Izuchukwu – one of Balokoni’s Ulster team-mates – should add to Ireland’s dynamism and ball-carrying threat in the back row.

There is also excitement about Edogbo being put on the bench. The 6ft 5in, 127kg player’s career has been ruined by injury, but his performances for Munster this season have been hard to overlook.

For Dorris, there is a switch back to the open wing, which Farrell has used twice before against Italy. He scored two tries against the Azzurri while in that role in a World Cup warm-up match in 2023 and scored again as a seventh in Ireland’s 36-0 win two years ago.

Regardless of where he plays, Doris just wants to see Ireland overcome their Parisian pain and put in a great performance ahead of next week’s trip to title contenders England.

The 27-year-old added: “There were several conversations throughout the week.”

“The important thing was to make each other more accountable as a leadership group, as a broader group, where we all take full responsibility and drive things in the right direction.

“We talked a little bit about last week being a reference point that we can hopefully look at from a place of getting better this week, but also moving forward as well.

“There is a realization that we need to get better, but there is still belief in what we are doing, and just the need to do things right.”