To facilitate the inclusion of wing Howe in the side, coach Eddie O'Sullivan has been forced to re-shuffle his backs with Shane Horgan moving to inside centre, Brian O'Driscoll reverting to the number 13 slot and Geordan Murphy switching from left to right wing.
The Ireland team to play South Africa at Newlands Park, Cape Town on Saturday next, June 19th, is:-
15 - Girvan Dempsey (Leinster/Terenure Coll) 14 - Geordan Murphy (Leicester) 13 - Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster/Blackrock Coll) C 12 - Shane Horgan (Leinster/Lansdowne) 11 - Tyrone Howe (Ulster/Dungannon) 10 - Ronan O'Gara (Munster/Cork Constitution) 9 - Peter Stringer (Munster/Shannon) 1 - Reggie Corrigan (Leinster/Greystones) 2 - Shane Byrne (Leinster/Blackrock Coll) 3 - John Hayes (Munster/Shannon) 4 - Malcolm O'Kelly (Leinster/St. Mary's Coll) 5 - Paul O'Connell (Munster/Young Munster) 6 - Simon Easterby (Llanelli) 7 - David Wallace (Munster/Garryowen) 8 - Anthony Foley (Munster/Shannon). Replacements: 16 - Frankie Sheahan (Munster/Cork Constitution) 17 - Marcus Horan (Munster/Shannon) 18 - Donncha O'Callaghan (Munster/Cork Constitution) 19 - Alan Quinlan (Munster/Shannon) 20 - Guy Easterby (Rotherham) 21 - David Humphreys (Ulster/Dungannon) 22 - Kevin Maggs (Bath).
