Live coverage on BBC ONE and this website Lansdowne Road Saturday 12 November Kick-off: 1430 GMT Fire hits Lansdowne Road

The Irish have never beaten NZ and face the conquerors of the Lions and Wales without three of their biggest stars.

Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell and Denis Hickie are all out, while New Zealand make 15 changes to their side.

There will be added spice because Keven Mealamu, one of the perpetrators of the spear tackle that ended O'Driscoll's Lions tour, is in the All Black team.

NZ make 15 changes

New Zealand captain Tana Umaga, the other guilty party in the incident which resulted in a dislocated shoulder for O'Driscoll, will watch from the stands.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry admitted he was taking a risk in changing his entire team.

"For sure we feel a sense of vulnerability, but we've come on tour with an objective in mind," said the former Wales coach

"We have to make sure we achieve the goals of the tour and testing new players is part of that. We won't pick our top team every week which is bound to lead to some vulnerability.

"But we believe that is something worth doing because we want to develop as many Test players as possible.

"This is not the strongest team we can put on the field but we will only know how good these players are if we test them in the right conditions."

New Zealand, the Tri-Nations champions, are unbeaten in their last four fixtures and trounced Grand Slam winners Wales 41-3 in a five-try demolition last Saturday.

Flanker Richie McCaw skippers the side after being rested against Wales.

Mealamu could face a hostile reception at Lansdowne Road

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan dismissed suggestions that Henry's second-string line-up was disrespectful to Ireland.

"I don't think it's disrespect at all, it's a sign of strength," said O'Sullivan.

"This New Zealand side are as good as New Zealand have ever been and they have this phenomenal strength in depth at the moment.

"We'd all like to name 15 changes from week to week and still not lose any quality or strength. New Zealand are the envy of a lot of countries."

The sides last met on Ireland's two-Test tour of New Zealand in June 2002, when the men in green went down 40-8 in Auckland and 15-6 in Dunedin.

Easterby leads Ireland XV

Ireland will feature eight of the side that ended this year's Six Nations, which yielded three wins in five games.

Llanelli Scarlets' Simon Easterby will captain the team after recovering from a broken nose as O'Sullivan opts for experience throughout the side.

New Zealand play England on 19 November and Scotland seven days later.

Ireland meet Australia a week on Saturday and Romania on 26 November.

Ireland: G Murphy, T Bowe, G D'Arcy, S Horgan, A Horgan, R O'Gara, P Stringer, M Horan, S Byrne, J Hayes, D O'Callaghan, M O'Kelly, S Easterby (capt), J O'Connor, D Leamy.
Replacements: R Best, S Best, M McCullough, N Best, K Campbell, D Humphreys, G Dempsey.

New Zealand: L McDonald; D Howlett, M Nonu, A Mauger, S Sivivatu; N Evans, P Weepu; T Woodcock, K Mealamu, J Afoa; J Eaton, A Williams; S Lauaki, R McCaw (capt), M Tuiali'i.
Replacements: A Hore, S Taumoepeau, C Hayman, C Jack, R So'oialo, J Cowan, M Muliaina.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa).