Robbie Henshaw will start at full-back for just the second time in a Test in Ireland's Six Nations opener against England in Dublin.
Head coach Joe Schmidt has selected Henshaw ahead of two-time Grand Slam winner Rob Kearney in a bold call to kick-start his side's title defence.
Henshaw made his name playing full-back at Connacht and won his first Ireland cap in the 15 shirt back in 2013, but has not featured there in his other 35 Tests.
The 25-year-old has flourished in the centres, but has still expressed his desire for a return to the back-field and must now cope with an expected aerial bombardment from England at the Aviva Stadium.
Schmidt revealed Henshaw has been training at full-back for some time behind the scenes in Ireland's set-up.
"Robbie trained last week and a bit in November at full-back," said Schmidt.
"He actually trained there a bit in Australia in the summer too. It's been an option for us for quite some time.
"Rob (Kearney) ran out of time a little bit.
"And we like the flexibility of Jordan Larmour on the bench covering a number of positions. It's one of those things that we've seen as an option for quite some time.
"So it's probably not as much of a surprise to Robbie or the team as it is to other people."
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) January 31, 2019
Ireland team to play England
Forwards: 1 Cian Healy (Leinster), 2 Rory Best (CAPTAIN, Ulster), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), 4 Devin Toner (Leinster), 5 James Ryan (Leinster), 6 Peter O’Mahony (Munster), 7 Josh van der Flier (Leinster), 8 CJ Stander (Munster)
Backs: 9 Conor Murray (Munster), 10 Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), 11 Jacob Stockdale (Ulster), 12 Bundee Aki (Connacht), 13 Garry Ringrose (Leinster), 14 Keith Earls (Munster), 15 Robbie Henshaw (Leinster)
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin (Leinster), 17 David Kilcoyne (Munster), 18 Andrew Porter (Leinster), 19 Quinn Roux (Connacht), 20 Sean O’Brien (Leinster), 21 John Cooney (Ulster), 22 Joey Carbery (Munster), 23 Jordan Larmour (Leinster)