Ireland have made four changes for Saturday’s second Test with New Zealand.
A 42-10 defeat in the first rubber last weekend has prompted head coach Declan Kidney to promote Andrew Trimble, Kevin McLaughlin, Mike Ross and Gordon D’Arcy as the Irish look to keep the three-match series alive in Christchurch.
Ross returns after missing the Eden Park encounter with a hamstring injury, while McLaughlin comes in for Peter Mahoney and Trimble replaces debutant Simon Zebo on the left wing.
Double Lions tourist D’Arcy is chosen to take over from fellow Lion Keith Earls who suffered a pectoral muscle injury in Auckland as he renews his long-standing midfield partnership with captain Brian O’Driscoll.
Lions hopeful Cian Healy has been passed fit after a knock to his shoulder as Kidney selects 10 members of Leinster’s Heineken Cup winning outfit in his starting XV.
“We took a good look at things on Monday with the players and saw where we went wrong so the focus this week will be 99 per cent on ourselves,” said Kidney.
“We need to get ourselves right and not be concentrating on the others.
“We know the turnovers, a few areas of the game like kick-offs, both for and against, we can improve in those two areas that will give us so much more ball, percentages of possession and territory. If we can start improving them, it's a different game.
"In the first match, it was a real toss-up between Kevin (McLaughlin) and Peter (O’Mahony) as to who played six. We gave Peter the first one, you think of where we are now.
“It is about freshening it up a bit but the fact that Kevin will be part of a back row unit [he has been in] many times before helps.
“Kevin will give us real freshness into the team. That freshness is going to help us on Saturday night."
Ireland: R Kearney,F McFadden, B O'Driscoll (captain), G D'Arcy, A Trimble, J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, M Ross; D Tuohy, D Ryan; K McLaughlin, S O'Brien, J Heaslip
Replacements: S Cronin, D Fitzpatrick, D O'Callaghan, P O'Mahony, E Reddan, R O'Gara, S Zebo
NB Bold denotes Lion
