Joe Schmidt has named his XV for this Saturday’s Rugby World Cup warm-up clash with England at Twickenham, with star loosehead Cian Healy absent from the 23.
Keith Earls is ruled out because of return-to-play protocols after suffering a knock to the head against Wales last Saturday at Aviva Stadium.
Healy, still recovering fitness following his shoulder surgery, is once again not involved in the matchday squad, as concerns continue to surround the Leinster loosehead’s fitness.
Simon Zebo lines out at full-back, with Tommy Bowe and Dave Kearney filling the wing slots. Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne play at first and second centre respectively.
Conor Murray and Jonny Sexton line up in the half-back positions. Jack McGrath, Rory Best and Mike Ross form the front row. Captain Paul O’Connell and Devin Toner form the second row, with Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip completing the side.
Schmidt said Zebo has been selected at fullback, despite the fact that Rob Kearney is available following a knee injury.
"We just felt it was important to get Simon a little bit more time at full-back once we decided he was going to cover full-back for us.
"Rob Kearney has a bruise on his knee but he trained fully and we could have picked him."
Darren Cave has also been selected on the bench ahead of Keith Earls, who was also available despite picking up a knock against Wales.
"Keith has completed his return to play protocols thus far, so we'd expect that he would probably have been fit to be selected.
"But the thing with Keith and what we're trying to do with balance at the moment, there are some guys that play really well fresh and others that need to get a bit more a game rhythm, and Keith's had a couple of outings.
"In the first game in the Millennium I thought he looked super-sharp, so to have him fresh where there's a small degree of doubt then it just made sense.
"Luke trained fully through the week, did a little bit of contact today, no problem. He would be fully-fit, but he's had two starts already.
"We wanted to give Simon another run at full-back, and Dave Kearney and Tommy Bowe again on the wings.
"We thought about putting maybe Luke or Rob Kearney on the bench, but Darren Cave is the other guy who has had the least amount of game-time so it was good to get Darren into the group as well.
"Because with Jared (Payne) and Robbie (Henshaw) we can always drop someone else back to full-back, they've slotted in pretty seamlessly in amongst it at training this week."
Ireland: Simon Zebo, Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney, Jonny Sexton, Conor Murray, Jamie Heaslip, Sean O’Brien, Peter O’Mahony, Paul O’Connell (captain), Devin Toner, Mike Ross, Rory Best, Jack McGrath.
Replacements: Richardt Strauss, Tadhg Furlong, Nathan White, Donnacha Ryan, Chris Henry, Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan, Darren Cave.
