New skipper: Rory Best runs in a try against Wales in Ireland's opening Six Nations game

Ulster hooker Rory Best will captain Ireland in their penultimate RBS 6 Nations fixture against Scotland in Dublin on Saturday.

Paul O’Connell was ruled out for the remainder of the championship after picking up a knee injury against France on Sunday so Best will lead Ireland for a third time. Best, whose brother Simon also captained Ireland, has a 100% winning record as captain having worn the armband against Canada and the USA in 2009.

“It’s a great honour to be asked to captain the side. It’s something you dream of doing,” Best said. “It’s very unfortunate that Paul’s out but I’m honoured to do the job.

“We know we’ll have to be on the money against Scotland. It will be a massive challenge for our defence.”

Donnacha Ryan replaces O’Connell in the second row and will start his first championship game while Eoin Reddan is promoted from the replacements’ bench to fill the No 9 shirt with Conor Murray also ruled out because of injury.

IRELAND TEAM TO PLAY SCOTLAND, SATURDAY 10 MARCH, AVIVA STADIUM
15 – Rob Kearney
14 – Tommy Bowe
13 – Keith Earls
12 – Gordon D’Arcy
11 – Andrew Trimble
10 – Jonathan Sexton
9 – Eoin Reddan
1 – Cian Healy
2 – Rory Best (capt)
3 – Mike Ross
4 – Donncha O’Callaghan
5 – Donnacha Ryan
6 – Stephen Ferris
7 – Sean O’Brien
8 – Jamie Heaslip

Replacements:
16 – Sean Cronin
17 – Tom Court
18 – Mike McCarthy
19 – Peter O’Mahony
20 – Tomas O’Leary
21 – Ronan O’Gara
22 – Fergus McFadden