Jared Payne of Ulster will make his debut for Ireland when they face South Africa at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Ireland are continuing to adjust to life without Brian O’Driscoll, who retired at the end of last season, and Payne will step into the all-time great’s shoes at outside centre.
He will form a potentially exciting midfield partnership with Connacht centre Robbie Henshaw, while Gordon D’Arcy, a regular partner of O’Driscoll, is not in the matchday squad, having picked up a heavy knock in Castres at the end of last month.
Henshaw will make his fourth Test appearance and will face the daunting task of keeping tabs on his opposite number, the South Africa captain Jean de Villiers, who has 102 caps.
Rob Kearney is fit to start at full-back, Tommy Bowe has claimed one of the wing berths after successfully negotiating a return to play protocols following concussion, and Simon Zebo will be on the opposite wing.
In the pack, tighthead Mike Ross has won his fitness battle and will prop down alongside hooker Sean Cronin, who fills in for the injured Rory Best, and loosehead Jack McGrath.
Coach Joe Schmidt is without props Cian Healy, Marty Moore and Nathan White, so Rodney Ah You covers tighthead from the bench.
Although Sean O'Brien is a long-term absentee, Ireland have the luxury of selecting from strength in the back-five.
Captain Paul O’Connell will team up with Devin Toner in the lock forward positions, with Peter O’Mahony, Chris Henry and Jamie Heaslip in the back row.
Leinster hooker Richardt Strauss takes a seat on the bench and is in line for his first cap since June 2013, and his second against the country of his birth.
Regarding the midfield partnership and positions, Schmidt said: "It was what was available to us at the start of the week.
"Robbie Henshaw's flexibility to play 12 or 13 is similar to Jared Payne, but that's the way they trained last week, so we've decided to go with that.
"Gordon was injured last week. He's probably back to full fitness now but we weren't absolutely sure of that at the beginning of the week.
"We have very small windows of preparation, so we just felt we were partway along a pathway that was looking reasonably positive.
"To be fair to Gordon D'Arcy, he has helped immeasurably. He's been a really good mentor for Robbie and Jared this week.
"We thought Gordon would be fit and he probably has made it to be fair to him, but we hadn't had any time with the combinations."
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Jack McGrath, 2 Sean Cronin, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Devin Toner, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 6 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Chris Henry, 8 Jamie Heaslip.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Felix Jones.
Watch Ireland v South Africa live on Sky Sports 2 on Saturday from 5pm