Andy Farrell says it "makes sense" for Joey Carbery to keep his place against Italy ahead of skipper Johnny Sexton in an Ireland side that has six personnel changes and two positional switches from the Six Nations loss to France last time out.
The Ireland supremo says that James Ryan, who was the captain in Paris, misses out due to an adductor issue, while Bundee Aki and Andrew Conway are both rested to recover from niggling injuries.
The headline news is that Carbery has held onto the no 10 jersey despite the return to fitness of Sexton, who missed the Stade de France encounter with a hamstring injury.
