Jack Conan, who comes in for his first Test appearance in almost two years, forms an all-Leinster back row with Ruddock and Josh van der Flier.
It will be the fit-again Ruddock’s first international outing in almost a year, and a night to remember for the 26-year-old and his family as he becomes Ireland’s 105th captain at senior level. He is the fourth back rower to skipper the side in recent seasons, following in the footsteps of Jamie Heaslip, Peter O’Mahony and Sean O’Brien.
Andrew Porter and James Ryan are standing by to make their debuts as replacements, just a year on from helping the Ireland Under-20s to a runners-up finish at the World Rugby U-20 Championship. Stockdale was also part of that side.
Connacht hooker Heffernan and Munster back Rory Scannell are poised to make their international bows too, with the matchday 23 completed by Dave Kilcoyne, Simon Zebo and Leinster pair Dan Leavy and Luke McGrath who have two caps each.
Saturday’s clash between the US Eagles and Ireland kicks off at 5pm local time/10pm Irish time and will be broadcast live on eir Sport 2 in Ireland and Premier Sports in the UK.
IRELAND Team & Replacements (v USA, 2017 Summer Tour Test, Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey, Saturday, June 10, kick-off 5pm local time/10pm Irish time):
Player/Club/Province/Caps -
15. Tiernan O’Halloran (Buccaneers/Connacht) 3
14. Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster) 59
13. Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster) 8
12. Luke Marshall (Ballymena/Ulster) 9
11. Jacob Stockdale (Ballynahinch/Ulster) *
10. Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Leinster) 3
9. Kieran Marmion (Corinthians/Connacht) 13
1. Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster) 67
2. Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) 4
3. John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster) 6
4. Quinn Roux (Galwegians/Connacht) 1
5. Devin Toner (Lansdowne/Leinster) 47
6. Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt) 13
7. Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster) 7
8. Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster) 1
Replacements:
16. Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht) *
17. Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) 17
18. Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster) *
19. James Ryan (UCD/Leinster) *
20. Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster) 2
21. Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster) 2
22. Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster) *
23. Simon Zebo (Cork Constitution/Munster) 33
* Denotes uncapped player