Saints flanker Wood captained his country to a 19-14 win over France three weeks ago on home soil, but sat out the return defeat in Paris as head coach Stuart Lancaster made 14 changes to the side.
Lawes resumes in the second row, joined by Geoff Parling, while in midfield Brad Barritt and Jonathan Joseph make their first start as a pair. Ben Morgan and Anthony Watson also come into the starting line-up, while a third Saint Kieran Brookes is among the replacements.
With the squad now trimmed to the final 31-man party, Saturday represents England’s last competitive opportunity before their Rugby World Cup opener with Fiji on September 18th.
“We’ll learn a lot about our players this weekend and we’re looking forward to it," Lancaster commented. “We went into the Six Nations without a lot of these players playing. A lot of them were injured.
“Ben Morgan was, Joe Launchbury was, Tom Wood was, Brad Barritt was, Owen Farrell was. Courtney Lawes didn’t play. There are a lot of high-quality players who are all fit now.
“We look forward to seeing them play and I think it’ll be a great game.”
ENGLAND SIDE TO FACE IRELAND
QBE International
Twickenham
Saturday, September 5th, 2015
Kick off 2:30pm
15 Mike Brown (Harlequins, 38 caps)
14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, 10 caps)
13 Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
12 Brad Barritt (Saracens, 22 caps)
11 Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby, 15 caps)
10 George Ford (Bath Rugby, 12 caps)
9 Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 48 caps)
1 Joe Marler (Harlequins, 32 caps)
2 Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)
3 Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 51 caps)
4 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, 39 caps)
6 Tom Wood (Northampton Saints, 37 caps)
8 Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby, 28 caps)
16 Jamie George (Saracens, 1 cap)
17 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, 22 caps)
18 Kieran Brookes (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)
20 Billy Vunipola (Saracens, 18 caps)
21 Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens, 22 caps)
22 Owen Farrell (Saracens, 30 caps)
23 Sam Burgess (Bath Rugby, 1 cap)
