Having bided his time throughout the World Cup, Iain Henderson admits he's buzzing to start in Ireland's crucial Pool B match-up with Scotland.
The Ulster lock started two games in the Six Nations campaign but broke his arm in the round-four win over the Scots.
He made two more starts against Italy and Samoa in the summer but found himself behind James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne and Joe McCarthy as Ireland accounted for Romania, Tonga and South Africa in France.
This time around, as one of two changes to the side, with Dan Sheehan also coming in, that beat the Springboks, he has switched places with Leinster second row Ryan, who had his wrist strapped during the week.
"Obviously to be involved in a game like this, coming down to the crunch time of the tournament, is big," said 77-times-capped Henderson.
"We've been working together hard through the entire tournament and the weeks before that, so we all help each other out as much as possible, everyone pitches in whenever they're required and it's been no different this week.
"It's a huge privilege and honour to start as always, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.
"It's been a good week, an exciting week and it's a big one to be involved in. Delighted with a good week's prep and we're all buzzing for it."
Henderson’s Ulster team-mate Stuart McCloskey (above) is in line for his first taste of World Cup action.
Unused in the three games to this point, the centre comes in after the news that Robbie Henshaw suffered a hamstring injury in training with Andy Farrell speculating that he'll be out for a minimum of two weeks.
McCloskey who was allowed to travel back to Ireland after the birth of his second son, will win his 15th cap if called from the bench to face Scotland in Paris on Saturday night (8pm).
"Yeah he's been brilliant, him and Jimmy [O’Brien, the other player not to make a match-day squad so far] to be fair to them both have been in great form.
"All things considered they have been fantastic, fine form for the entire environment, much better than anyone inside or definitely ever outside could imagine.
"They've been really good for us, and they've been bringing it to the table for the rest of the team."
Scotland, who lost to South Africa in their opening match, need to win to progress. Even then, they need to deny Ireland a bonus point and win by more than eight points.
Gregor Townsend’s side have not beaten Ireland in eight matches.
"They’ve definitely pulled us close a couple of times over the last number of games," said the 31-year-old Armagh man.
"You can’t deny obviously the results that you’re talking about but we’ve seen the way that Scotland can attack, the threats that they have across their backline, and their carrying threats in the pack too.
"They’ve come out and said they have full belief and we’ve seen elements of their attack that we definitely deem to be incredibly threatening and have definitely got us wary.
"They have obviously a crunch game this weekend, the same as we have and we are expecting to play a different Scotland side than probably we’ve come up against as a squad in the last four years.
"[We] have experienced how good Scottish teams can be at provincial level.
"If they can get that translated into a performance at the weekend we know they have the ability to do some damage.
"On the flip side of that we need to look after what we can control in terms of our game. If we play our best game we have confidence in what we can do."
Meanwhile, scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park held onto his starting shirt despite a fine Conor Murray cameo against the Springboks leading to suggestions that the Munster man could get the nod.
"100%. To your question, I absolutely love it," said the 31-year-old Kiwi native when asked about competition for the position.
"It’s what drives us both on. As well as Craig [Casey]. He’s been awesome as well.
"It’s a point Hendy touched on, the guys who haven’t played as many minutes have been training the house down and putting us under serious pressure.
"But yeah, I absolutely love the competition. I have the same thing with the province with Luke [McGrath at Leinster], and it drives me on."
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