Ruddock quit on Valentine's night for ''family reasons'', while Thomas was admitted to hospital and ruled out for up to 12 weeks with a damaged artery in his neck.

Amidst all that upheaval, caretaker coach Scott Johnson - heading into his first Test in sole charge - recalled Gavin Henson into the squad. With just one game under his belt since serving a 51-day ban, the 24-year-old is named on the bench.

Lee Byrne replaces Thomas to start at full-back and Dafydd James returns to the wing in place of Shane Williams (dead leg).

Recent events suggest Wales will limp into Dublin a demoralised outfit but Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan predicts the opposite.

''There's always a reaction from any team that has gone through a trauma such as a change of coach or a run of losses. It usually galvanises the team and pulls them together,'' he said.

Ireland, meanwhile, have issues of their own to deal with as they look to rebound from a topsy-turvy performance in the 43-31 defeat to France a fortnight ago.

Ireland gifted Les Bleus a 43-3 lead before cutting loose and scoring four quickfire tries in the final 20 minutes.

''If we cut out handing those tries away to any side I think we are going to give them a good game, particularly with the way we know we played in the second half against France,'' said skipper Brian O'Driscoll.

Ireland have replaced Paul O'Connell (shoulder) with British & Irish Lions tourist Donncha O'Callaghan while Andrew Trimble is preferred on the left wing to Tommy Bowe.