Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan has made 13 changes to the starting XV who defeated Wales a fortnight ago for Ireland's friendly against Italy at Thomond Park on Saturday.
Centre Brian O'Driscoll will resume captaincy in the absence of Keith Wood, who had returned from injury for the first time in nearly 12 months for the 35-12 Wales win at Lansdowne Road.
Denis Hickie and Rob Henderson have a chance to impress in the back line before the World Cup later this year after their recall. Prop forward John Hayes also returns, completing the trio who missed the Summer Tour to Australia, Samoa and Tonga through injury.
Victor Costello has recovered from an injury that kept him out of the Wales game and will don the number eight jersey. Elsewhere Marcus Horan will start at loose-head prop after he too recovered from an ankle injury.
The match at Thomond Park kicks-off this Saturday at 3 p.m.
Ireland team to play Italy:
15 Girvan Dempsey (Leinster - Terenure College)
14 John Kelly (Munster - Cork Constitution)
13 Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster - Blackrock College) Captain
12 Rob Henderson (Munster - Garryowen)
11 Denis Hickie (Leinster - St. Mary's College)
10 David Humphreys (Ulster - Dungannon)
9 Guy Easterby (Rotherham)
1 Marcus Horan (Munster - Shannon)
2 Shane Byrne (Leinster - Blackrock College)
3 John Hayes (Munster - Shannon)
4 Gary Longwell (Ulster - Ballymena)
5 Leo Cullen (Leinster - Blackrock College)
6 Simon Easterby (Llanelli)
7 Eric Miller (Leinster - Terenure College)
8 Victor Costello (Leinster - St. Mary's College)
Replacements:16 Paul Shields (Ulster - Ballymena), 17 Justin Fitzpatrick (Castres), 18 Donnacha O'Callaghan (Munster Cork Constitution), 19 Kieron Dawson (London Irish), 20 Brian O'Meara(Leinster - Cork Constitution), 21 Geordan Murphy (Leicester), 22 Jonathan Bell (Ulster - Dungannon).
Not considered due to injury:Shane Horgan (Leinster - Lansdowne), Ronan O'Gara (Munster -Cork Constitution).