Russia's youngest squad player, Denis Simplikevich, will make his debut for the Bears against Ireland in the World Cup Pool C match on Sunday in Rotorua's International Stadium.

The 20-year-old Simplikevich, a fullback from Siberia, will start on the right wing after missing out on the 22 in the first two matches, losses to the United States and Italy.

Simplikevich impressed at the 2010 and 2011 Junior World Rugby Championships. Russia made nine changes on Friday, only one less than Ireland.

Following the 53-17 loss to Italy on Tuesday in Nelson, Russia will feature an all-new front row with hooker Valery Tsnobiladze and tighthead prop Alexander Khrokin making their first starts in the tournament, while loosehead prop Sergey Popov was back after playing the U.S. Denis Antonov, who also faced the Americans, will partner Australian-born lock Adam Byrnes, the only player in the front five to retain a place. Artem Fatakhov, another from the U.S., was back on the blindside flank.

With hooker and captain Vladislav Korshunov rested, Alexander Yanyushkin was in at scrumhalf to lead the Bears.

Inside center Sergey Trishin will make his World Cup debut, and Simplikevich's introduction has forced Vasily Artemyev to slide out to fullback in place of Igor Klyuchnikov.

Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Andrey Kuzin, 12 Sergey Trishin, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Konstantin Rachkov, 9 Alexander Yanyushkin (captain), 8 Victor Gresev, 7 Andrey Garbuzov, 6 Artem Fatakhov, 5 Adam Byrnes, 4 Denis Antonov, 3 Alexander Khrokin, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Sergey Popov.
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Ivan Prishchepenko, 18 Alexey Travkin, 19 Alexander Voytov, 20 Andrey Bykanov, 21 Mikhail Sidorov, 22 Mikhail Babaev.

Date: Sunday, September 25
Venue: Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua
Kick-off: 18.00 (05.00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Dave Pearson (England), Jérôme Garces (France)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)

AFP