There were always likely to be some fresh faces in Andy Farrell's squad for the upcoming tour of New Zealand.
With a pair of midweek games against the Maori All Blacks, as well as the three-Test series against New Zealand, Farrell's touring party is larger than normal for a summer tour, as they make up for the lost touring opportunities during Covid and try to get some fringe players up to speed on life in camp.
Of the 40 players who will travel to New Zealand, just five remain from Ireland's last series away to the All Blacks in 2012 [Cian Healy, Johnny Sexton, Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Peter O'Mahony], while Robbie Henshaw, Iain Henderson and Tadhg Furlong can draw on their experiences of a New Zealand tour having been there with the Lions in 2017.
There are five newcomers in the group, with Leinster's Ciarán Frawley, Jimmy O'Brien and Joe McCarthy in line for their first taste of international rugby, as well as Munster loosehead Jeremy Loughman and Connacht's versatile forward Cian Prendergast.
While all five are uncapped, they've all previously had a taste of Irish camp, whether as development players or as part of the full training squad in the Autumn Nations Series and Six Nations.
Connacht senior coach Pete Wilkins will also join up with the coaching team for the tour, with Farrell drafting in an extra pair of hands to his support staff due to the logistics involved.
"Well, we are pretty joined up as an Irish nation – as far as rugby is concerned anyway. We've got good relationships with all of the provinces and this is a big tour," Farrell said.
"We have five coaches including myself and we will need all hands on deck. This is a Lions-esque tour, certainly for the first Test match week and with the Maoris in the third Test match week, so there are going to be many moving parts that are different, which is great in a way as well because it gets people out of their comfort zone.
"One team might be heading up to Hamilton while the other team is training, so we just need an extra pair of hands there."
Farrell says if Ireland are to break their World Cup quarter-final hoodoo next year, he will need a pool of at least 40 top-quality players at his disposal.
He's also not closing the door on those who missed out on the squad, with the likes of Stuart McCloskey, Jack O'Donoghue and Ross Molony all coming off arguably the best seasons of their lives.
But for now, Farrell is putting his trust in his five newcomers, and here's what he had to say about them on Tuesday:
Jimmy O'Brien (Leinster - wing, full-back)
"He's been in camp before and I was very impressed. You find out in regards to how a player handles coming into camp, whether he can get up to speed very quickly, whether he’s able to handle the pressure of performing with peers that are of a very high standard and he fitted in very well because he’s a well-balanced player.
"He can play many positions, he’s got many aspects to his game that are pretty good and on a tour like this, people like that become an integral part of it."
Ciarán Frawley (Leinster - centre, out-half)
"Ciarán's like a number of players who were selected, there's massive potential there, and we want to see that potential flourish under extreme pressure.
"He's the type of player this tour is brilliant for because this is what touring is about. We get to find out about players, how they live away from home. Having good team-mates within a squad of 40 is pretty important, and versatility; while we're playing on the other end of the world it's very hard to get people out there within 48 hours, so you have to have versatility in your group.
"Ciarán can play a number of positions, he played full-back last weekend when he came on and looked pretty comfortable. But we know he can play very well at 10 and 12 as well."
Jeremy Loughman (Munster - loosehead prop)
"Like every squad there's always going to be an element of potential, there's always got to be an element of giving people a chance to grab hold of an opportunity, a chance to see how they work in our environment.
"Jeremy's not been in too much, but it's a position we need to grow. We see potential in Jeremy, but the likes of Jeremy - he's got to make sure that he grabs his chance.
"I'd a chat with him this morning, actually, about the exact situation; this is his chance and this is where he steps up to the plate or not.
"This is where we find strength in depth, to see if people can handle pressure at the highest level."
Joe McCarthy (Leinster - lock)
"I've been super impressed with Joe, he came into camp for two days and was himself straight away. He adapted very quickly.
"He added to the quality of the training session and it just goes to show, because of all that, he's played in some big games at the end of the season.
"Although there were one or two errors in his game at the weekend [vs Bulls], I thought he was excellent.
"He offered himself constantly, he was a threat to the line, he's got good footwork, great work-rate, good field awareness, he's not trying to play tidy all the time - he gets off the line, he's a menace at the breakdown.
"There's tremendous potential there, hopefully we'll come away with a gem at the end of this tour with Joe."
Cian Prendergast (Connacht - back row, lock)
"As far as Cian, well, like a few others that's in the group, there’s potential there that we hope will blossom on a tour like this. We think he’s got the attitude, the nature to put his best foot forward and be himself on a tour like this.
"Where some lads would see it as a daunting task his mentality is completely different to that."
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