Jonah Lomu was left on the bench when New Zealand coach John Mitchell named his side for the international against Italy in Hamilton on Saturday.
Mitchell also included three new caps in his All Blacks team, lock Simon Maling, hooker Tom Willis and prop Joe McDonnell, who all play for the Otago Highlanders.
Indifferent form by Lomu, who has scored 34 tries in 55 tests, has cost him a place in the starting line-up. He will be replaced in the number 11 jersey by Caleb Ralph, who is back in the test side after a four-year absence.
Ralph scored two late tries for the Canterbury Crusaders in their 31-13 Super 12 final victory over the ACT Brumbies on May 25th.
Maling and Willis toured Ireland, Scotland and Argentina with the All Blacks last year, but did not make the test side.
The All Blacks face Ireland, who arrived in Timaru yesterday after a marathon journey, in the first of a two test series on June 15th. Eddie O’Sullivan’s men kick the tour off next Saturday against a Divisional Selection in Timaru.
The squad shook off the cobwebs and were put through their paces in a training session today and O’Sullivan is due to name his starting line-up tomorrow.
New Zealand: Christian Cullen (Wellington); Doug Howlett (Auckland), Mark Robinson (Canterbury), Daryl Gibson (Canterbury), Caleb Ralph (Canterbury); Andrew Mehrtens (Canterbury), Byron Kelleher (Otago); Taine Randell (Otago), Richard McCaw (Canterbury), Reuben Thorne (Canterbury, captain), Norm Maxwell (Canterbury), Simon Maling (Otago), Kees Meeuws (Auckland), Tom Willis (Otago), Joe McDonnell (Otago).
Replacements: Mark Hammett (Canterbury), Dave Hewett (Canterbury), Chris Jack (Canterbury), Marty Holah (Waikato), Justin Marshall (Canterbury), Aaron Mauger (Canterbury), Jonah Lomu (Wellington).