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Twickenham a "fantastic and intimidating place" for Byrne to get first Ireland start

Rory Best says Twickenham will be an "intimidating" venue for Ross Byrne's first Ireland start. T...



Rory Best says Twickenham will be an "intimidating" venue for Ross Byrne's first Ireland start.

The Leinster out-half will take his place in the starting fifteen against England in tomorrow's latest World Cup warm-up game.

With Joey Carbery suffering an ankle injury in the win against Italy earlier this month and the Munster out-half unlikely to be fit in time for the World Cup opener with Scotland, the door of opportunity has opened for both Byrne and Jack Carty to enhance their claims for a seat on the plane to Japan.

Jonathan Sexton is again held in reserve with his Leinster teammate Byrne handed his third cap at 10 for his country, while Carty is on the bench for the second game in-a-row.

Best feels the 24-year-old has all the attributes to force his way into Joe Schmidt's final 31-man squad.

"When you come here you realise the magnitude of the stadium and I've been lucky enough to play here several times.  It’s a fantastic and intimidating place to play rugby but it’s a great place to show what you’re made of as a player and to show your value to the team.

"That’s Ross’s opportunity and he's a fantastic player. The thing for the rest of us is to make sure we step up so he can too.”

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