The 6'8" inch lock made 17 appearances for Tigers last season and will win his eighth international cap when he packs down alongside Nathan Hines of Perpignan in Scotland's first World Cup warm-up match.
Unlike their Irish, English and Welsh counterparts, the Scots decided against touring this summer and head coach Frank Hadden has named a strong side for the Bank of Scotland Corporate Test.
Captain Jason White and scrum-half Mike Blair return from injury, while Chris Paterson will become the fourth Scot to reach 75 caps as he starts an international at stand-off for the first time since the French visited Murrayfield three years ago.
Scotland head coach Frank "Inevitably much will be read into this selection given the proximity to the Rugby World Cup and the trimming of our squad next Tuesday to the final 30 who will be on duty for the tournament," said Hadden. "But what's uppermost in my mind, as ever, is picking a team to win an international match as we look to generate momentum going into the World Cup.
"At the beginning of the last Six Nations campaign we said Chris Paterson was not ready to start at stand-off. At the end of the Six Nations we said he was probably ready to start, so let's have a look at him there.
"We are all aware that politics have been getting the headlines recently but Saturday marks the start of some vitally important games and the more Scots who can come along to support us the better."
Scotland team vs Ireland at Murrayfield on Saturday, August 11 (kick-off 2.30pm)
15 Rory Lamont (Sale Sharks)
14 Sean Lamont (Northampton Saints)
13 Rob Dewey (Ulster Rugby)
12 Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Warriors)
11 Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby)
10 Chris Paterson (Gloucester)
9 Mike Blair (Edinburgh Rugby)*
1 Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh Rugby)
2 Ross Ford (Glasgow Warriors)*
3 Euan Murray (Northampton Saints)
4 Nathan Hines (Perpignan)
5 Jim Hamilton (Leicester Tigers)
6 Jason White (Sale Sharks) (c)
8 Simon Taylor (Stade Francais)*
7 Allister Hogg (Edinburgh Rugby)*
Replacements
16 Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors)*
17 Craig Smith (Edinburgh Rugby)
18 Scott MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets)
19 Kelly Brown (Glasgow Warriors)*
20 Chris Cusiter (Perpignan)*
21 Dan Parks (Glasgow Warriors)
22 Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh Rugby)
* = Member of Scottish Institute of Sport
Referee: Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch-judges: Wayne Barnes (England) and Carlo Damasco (Italy)
Television match official: Rob Debney (England)
