Tadhg Beirne to captain Ireland in Dublin against Fiji on Saturday

Tadhg Beirne will captain Ireland for a second time on his 75th cap in Dublin in Saturday's Nations Championship game against Fiji on 14 November at 20:10 GMT, with live commentary on BBC Radio Ulster and the BBC Sport website and app.

Since missing the final three matches of Ireland's 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam campaign with an ankle injury, Beirne has missed only three Tests for Ireland: he was rested against Italy in 2024 and missed last year's summer fixtures with Georgia and Portugal while on British and Irish Lions duty. He has won the United Rugby Championship with Munster after previously lifting the league with Scarlets in 2017, was appointed Munster captain in succession to Peter O'Mahony, has been a five-Test British and Irish Lion, played every minute of the Lions' Test series win over the Wallabies and was named player of the series, and is a three-time member of World Rugby's men's 15s dream team of the year.

Beirne will captain Ireland at the Aviva Stadium for the first time and is deputising for the injured Caelan Doris and Dan Sheehan. "It's particularly special doing it at the Aviva, at home," he said. "I did have family over in Australia during the summer, but I'll have my family here, extended family and especially with this group, getting to lead those boys out is very cool and very special."

He confirmed relatives will attend the match but said his focus remains on performance: "My wife and daughter will be there, mum and dad will definitely be there, my sister – everyone who's in the country will be there, which is class. That's the nice part, leading up to the game, but I have a job to do and the folks will go through that, for sure. I'm really looking forward to it, it's a massive week for me and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far."

Beirne played the full 80 minutes of Ireland's 42-12 win over Argentina in Dublin last week, a game in which Ireland led 21-5 at half-time and then doubled their tally in the second half; in his post-match remarks he said they "could have got a lot more out of" their autumn opener. He added: "The big focus for us is to continue building on our performance, particularly from last week. Tomorrow is all about ourselves and making sure that we can play the way we want to play and put in a better performance over a longer period as well. I think there were patches of us playing really well there, but there were also patches where we weren't to the standard that we're going to hold ourselves to."

Ireland make seven personnel changes and two positional switches from the Argentina match, with Ronan Kelleher, James Ryan and Josh van der Flier recalled to the forwards and Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, Jamie Osborne and Tommy O'Brien added to the backline. Nick Timoney and Mack Hansen switch to number eight and full-back respectively, while Beirne will partner James Ryan in the second row.

Ireland sit third in the Nations Championship northern hemisphere table and have never lost to Fiji in a Test match, having beaten them 52-17 the last time the sides met in Dublin in 2024. Fiji, now coached by Jake White, who led South Africa to World Cup success in 2007, have lost all four of their matches in the competition and were beaten 54-17 by France in Lyon last week.

Ireland face Fiji at the Aviva on Saturday 14 November at 20:10 GMT with live commentary available on BBC Radio Ulster and the BBC Sport website and app, and will then prepare for next week's fixture against world champions South Africa.