Joe Schmidt has made only one change in personnel in his match-day 23 for the Six Nations clash with Wales, and says Tommy Bowe's inclusion is a testament to his recent form.
With Andrew Trimble ruled out for the remainder of the competition with a hand injury, Bowe was battling with Ulster team-mate Craig Gilroy and Munster’s Andrew Conway for a place on the bench.
The 33-year-old featured as a replacement in the opening-round defeat to Scotland in Murrayfield, his first international appearance in 16 months, but was left out of the squads for the wins over Italy and France.
The 68-cap international has played in Ulster’s last three games, scoring a try in the home win over Glasgow and Schmidt says the winger has worked hard for his recall.
“Tommy has trained really well, he’s trained the house down,” he said.
“His last couple of games for Ulster have been incrementally improving and some of the things we have asked of him, we’ve seen in what he is doing.
“It’s tough because Craig Gilroy has also been doing really well and so has Andrew Conway.”
Bowe, who missed the entire 2013, 2014 and 2016 campaigns through injury, will be keen to get his opportunity off the bench and the New Zealander says the six foot three inch back is ideally suited to face a possible aerial examination at the Principality Stadium.
“In the context of what we think Wales will bring, Tommy is so strong in the air and his experience as well, having played with a lot of these players in his time with the Ospreys," he said.
"We just felt it was a good decision."
Much focus again will be on the decision whether to close the stadium roof for the night-time clash.
Wales had requested that the roof be closed for every home match during the tournament, but rules state both nations have to agree. England opted to have the roof open when they defeated Rob Howley's side in round two.
Currently the weather forecast for Friday is a dry, cool night in the Welsh capital, and while Schmidt says a decision hasn’t been made as of yet, he can’t see any reason to have the roof closed unless the weather conditions change drastically.
"If it’s fine, there wouldn’t really seem too much point in closing the stadium"
“We’re just waiting for a formal request to make a decision. The later that request comes the better,” he said.
"If it’s fine, there wouldn’t really seem too much point in closing the stadium.
“You can get a build-up of moisture within the stadium and it becomes almost counter-productive for wanting it to be a dry surface when it can start to get a little slippery when the roof is closed.”
Live Six Nations coverage of Wales v Ireland on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 7pm on Friday (KO 8.05pm), live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 from 7.45pm and live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now app.
Live coverage of Wales v Ireland (KO 11.30am) in the Women’s Six Nations on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 11.15am on Saturday.
Live Six Nations coverage of Italy v France (KO 1.30pm) and England v Scotland (KO 4pm) on RTÉ Two and RTÉ Player from 1.20pm on Sunday.
Live coverage of Wales v Ireland in the Under-20 Six Nations on RTÉ Two from 6.15pm (KO 6.30pm) on Saturday.
