Scott MacLeod and Alasdair Strokosch are introduced to the pack and Rory Lamont and Simon Webster return from injury in the backs, while Jim Hamilton, Dan Parks and Nick De Luca all revert to the bench.

MacLeod will be making his first start since the meeting with the All Blacks in the World Cup, while Strokosch makes his debut in the RBS 6 Nations and will win his second cap.

One other positional switch sees Chris Paterson move from wing to stand-off. The composition of Scotland’s back row is still to be finalised.

Head coach Frank Hadden said: “We are waiting to assess the fitness of John Barclay. Then we will decide on who fills jerseys number seven, eight and 19.”

That decision is likely to be made by tomorrow. The four players in contention are Barclay, Kelly Brown, Allister Hogg and Ross Rennie.

On the challenge facing his team at Croke Park, Hadden added: “We are determined to give our supporters something to smile about this weekend.

“There is a strong collective desire to produce a performance that will lead us to a win.”

Scotland team to face Ireland in the RBS 6 Nations in Dublin on Saturday:

H Southwell (Edinburgh); N Walker (Ospreys), S Webster (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), R Lamont (Sale Sharks); C Paterson (Gloucester) M Blair (Edinburgh, captain); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), E Murray (Northampton Saints), N Hines (Perpignan), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), A Strokosch (Gloucester), TBC, TBC.

Substitutes: F Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), G Kerr (Edinburgh), J Hamilton (Leicester Tigers), TBC, C Cusiter (Perpignan), D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), N De Luca (Edinburgh).