O'Gara to captain Ireland against England

By Paul Hoskins

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Flyhalf Ronan O'Gara was named Ireland captain for the first time on Tuesday, taking over from the injured Brian O'Driscoll for Saturday's final Six Nations match away to England.

Fullback Geordan Murphy is the only new name in the starting XV that lost 16-12 to Wales last the weekend although he faces a fitness test later this week to confirm his selection.

In a reshuffled backline, Rob Kearney reverts from fullback to left wing, replacing Tommy Bowe who crosses to the right side. Shane Horgan moves to inside centre with Andrew Trimble being handed O'Driscoll's number 13 jersey.

The 29-year-old captain will be sidelined for up to four weeks after tearing his left hamstring in Saturday's defeat.

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan said he handed the captaincy to O'Gara because the natural stand-in, lock Paul O'Connell, only recently returned from a back injury.

"Obviously Paul has been captaining the team and is in the team so the assumption might have been you go straight back to Paul, but to be fair to Paul he's only just back from a very long layoff," O'Sullivan told RTE radio.

"I told him, in fairness to him, rather than hanging the captaincy around his neck straight away, I'd let him get on with his own game, focus on a big performance from him, let him lead the pack and give the captaincy to Ronan."

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