Andy Farrell says Stuart McCloskey's start against New Zealand on Saturday is a long-overdue reward for the Ulster centre's patience.
The 33-year-old has made an impressive start to the season, and is named alongside Garry Ringrose in the centre for Ireland’s meeting with the All Blacks at Soldier Field.
McCloskey gets the nod over Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshsaw, both of whom came into camp carrying injury knocks, but have trained fully this week. Aki is among the replacements.
"He thoroughly deserves his chance this weekend," Farrell said of McCloskey after naming his team this afternoon.
McCloskey will earn his 22nd cap for Ireland this weekend, in a Test career that has spanned almost 10 years since he made his debut away to England in 2016.
The Ulsterman has found gametime limited, in no small part down to the consistency of Ringrose, Aki and Henshaw, but he has impressed when put on the main stage for Ireland in recent seasons.
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His most recent start in a high-profile Test came in the 2023 Six Nations where he excelled against France, while he was one of the best players on the pitch in Ireland’s 2022 win against the Springboks, before injury saw him depart on 26 minutes.
"The amount of times that I've had conversations with Stu about how well he's been playing, and he just needs to be patient," Farrell (below) added.
"He's been unbelievably patient. The amount of times that Stu had been playing well, and the other guys have been on top form and had a hold of the shirt, and Stu would be going back up the road to Belfast on Wednesday, I can't count how many times we've had those types of conversations.
"From the conversations that I've had, from things that I've seen during pre-season, where he's at, he's upped his game, certainly in the leadership role, and that has spilled over into the few performances that he's had so far, so he thoroughly deserves his chance."
The inclusion of McCloskey was the only surprise call in the starting team for Saturday’s showdown with the All Blacks at Soldier Field, nine years on from Ireland’s famous win against the then-world champions, with Farrell declaring this contest the "Battle of Chicago, part two".
As expected, Jack Crowley will start in the number 10 shirt, with Sam Prendergast on the bench.
The Munster out-half has climbed back to the top of the depth chart after spending much of last season behind Prendergast in the eyes of Farrell.
However, the 25-year-old (below) has made a blistering start to the season for his province. And 12 months on from losing his starting spot, Farrell says Crowley "deserves" his shot this weekend.
"He's had a great pre-season, came back and started the season in good form, and it's certainly something that we saw in the first week over here," said the former dual code England international.
"So, we've had a great camp, getting the lads back together. It certainly shows us where everyone's at, as far as the competition and the respect that they're trying to gain from one another.
"You watch all of that and you come up with a decision about who deserves to start.
"And rightly so, Jack has been running the side really well this week, so we're looking forward to seeing him perform."
Saturday’s contest will be Farrell’s first as head coach of Ireland since their win against Australia just under a year ago, having been on sabbatical to coach the British and Irish Lions.
Less than two years out from the World Cup, and off the back of an inconsistent 12 months, it’s time to start building some momentum.
Farrell said: "I suppose many teams would be reassessing every single season where they're at.
"Halfway stage between the World Cup cycles is being talked about, so there's always a reassess where all parts of our game are at, and we've certainly done that.
"It's up to us to make sure that we keep kicking on, because staying where we are isn't going to be good enough going forward.
"It's about us all, and I'm including myself, and all the coaching staff and all the backroom staff.
"It's up to us all to keep getting better, to keep improving, to keep challenging one another, to reassess where our standards lie and how we need to kick on with that, because, again, every team is going to progress over the next couple of years, and we need to be at the forefront of that."
Eleven of Saturday's starting team were part of Farrell’s Lions tour, with a further three on the bench, and with the exception of Tadhg Beirne, the returning players have been slow to get back up to speed with their provinces.
But the Ireland coach insists he’s excited by that challenge.
"It's not daunting, it is what it is. This is where you want to be, this is the challenge that you want in front of your team, to see how you react.
"We're the privileged ones to be given this opportunity, and we constantly say big opportunities are there to be taken, and if they're not, then we've got to understand why and learn from that anyway, so in that regard, you can't lose."
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