Schmidt shuffles team for Romania
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has made 12 changes to the side that beat Canada for Sunday's clash against Romania at Wembley Stadium.
No.8 Heaslip will captain his country for the 11th time, taking over from the benched Paul O'Connell. Chris Henry slots in at openside flank and Jordi Murphy – one of the five World Cup debutants in the starting line-up – gets the nod at blindside.
Devin Toner and Donnacha Ryan pair up in the second row, while loosehead Cian Healy returns for his first Test start since March's Six Nations win over Scotland. He is joined in the front row by World Cup newcomer Richardt Strauss and Nathan White, who is set for his fifth cap.
Leinster duo Ian Madigan and Eoin Reddan come in for their second Test start together at scrumhalf and flyhalf, having previously played alongside each other against Georgia last November.
There is another provincial axis in midfield with Ulster's Darren Cave and Payne filling the centre berths, while Earls is joined in the back three by Simon Zebo and Tommy Bowe, the only survivor from Ireland's 43-12 victory over Romania back in November 2005.
O'Connell is poised to become Ireland's most-capped forward if he wins his 106th cap off the bench. Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Sean O'Brien, Conor Murray and Rob Kearney are the other replacements who were involved in the Canada game, with youngsters Tadhg Furlong and Paddy Jackson standing by to make their World Cup bows this weekend.
Speaking about Robbie Henshaw's recovery from a hamstring strain and the other knocks suffered by Jonathan Sexton, Peter O'Mahony and Ian Henderson, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said: "Robbie, I think, is fit to play. It's that he missed the early part of the week and therefore I think there's a couple of them [including Henshaw] that we left out partly [as a] precaution and partly because they hadn't had the time running with the team.
"Again, those other three guys trained absolutely fully today. They're fit to play and fit to be selected but today was the first full training that they took part in."
Asked about his expectations of Sunday's team and the return of prop Healy, he added: "There's a realisation from them, particularly after viewing Wednesday evening's game with Romania playing France, there's a realisation that it's an opportunity but also a massive responsibility on them to ensure that we get the result, and that's going to take a bit of work.
"Cian is always an asset whether he's in the starting team or off the bench. I think he came off the bench mostly through the Six Nations but the one start he did get against Scotland he got two turnovers on the ground in the first 20 minutes."
Ireland: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Chris Henry, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Nathan White, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Paul O'Connell, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Rob Kearney.
Date: Sunday, September 27
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Kick-off: 16.45 (15.30 GMT, 18.45 EEST)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
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