Fly-half Ronan O'Gara has been named Ireland captain for their Six Nations game with England at Twickenham on Saturday.

O'Gara captains Ireland captain for the first time, taking over from the injured centre Brian O'Driscoll, who tore his hamstring in the 16-12 loss to Wales last weekend.

Full-back Geordan Murphy is the only new name in the XV that started against Wales, although he faces a fitness test later this week to confirm his selection.

In a reshuffled backline, Rob Kearney reverts from full-back 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 O'Driscoll will be sidelined for up to four weeks.

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."

The second championship loss ended Ireland's title chances but O'Sullivan will need a fifth successive win over England to stem fresh media speculation about his future following on from last year's disappointing World Cup campaign.

The coach said he was optimistic that Murphy, who missed Saturday's defeat at Croke Park with an Achilles injury, would be fit enough to play at Twickenham.

"He's still struggling a little bit with his tendon problem. It's a lot better obviously than it was last week, he's making progress, but it's one of those injuries that can flare up without any warning."

O'Sullivan said Murphy had spent "a good 30 minutes on the pitch" training on Tuesday.

"He's had no reaction today and I think if he's no reaction tonight, and he goes well tomorrow, I think we'll be able to give him the all-clear," he added.

Ireland: 15-Geordan Murphy*, 14-Tommy Bowe, 13-Andrew Trimble, 12-Shane Horgan, 11-Rob Kearney, 10-Ronan O'Gara (capt), 9-Eoin Reddan; 8-Jamie Heaslip, 7-David Wallace, 6-Denis Leamy, 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Donncha O'Callaghan, 3-John Hayes, 2-Rory Best, 1-Marcus Horan.

Replacements: 16-Bernard Jackman, 17-Tony Buckley, 18-Mick O'Driscoll, 19-Simon Easterby, 20-Peter Stringer, 21-Paddy Wallace, 22-Luke Fitzgerald.

Reuters