Well-known Munster and Leinster names litter the Irish side but it is the appearance of halfback Tomas O'Leary which has raised the eyebrows in the Emerald Isle.
The rugby pundits were talking up the chances of several other halfbacks but it was the Munsterman O'Leary who claimed theattention of his national and recent local coach Declan Kidney.
O'Leary will start his first test against the All Blacks at Croke Park after a few replacement minutes as a wing last year against Argentina.
The locals like his temperament, he obviously has enough speed and he has the strong sporting pedigree of a father who was a hurling representative for Cork.
O'Leary is 25 so he is also experienced and while his pass is not rated the strongest part of his game, he has a reputation as a strong defender. That attribute should be welcome for a game where the long range forecast is not pretty.
Centre Brian O'Driscoll will captain his country for the 50th time with coach Kidney making six changes from that which cleaned out Canada 55-0 last week.
Kidney said he had seen a tape of the All Blacks win against Scotland but was more interested in the side which turned out in Hong Kong.
"I find I don't want to be repeating myself but they are the Tiger Woods of world rugby. They are extremely good side," Kidney said.
"A number of players left their shores but they didn't panic. In theory, they put out a so-called first XV against Australia.
"The team they put out against Scotland showed the options they have available to them.
"Thankfully they can pick only 22 of them. They have huge experience under their belt, they have set out early doors that they want it to be a Grand Slam tour. They started extremely well against Scotland. This is probably the toughest time to play them.
"They have the objective of having a Grand Slam tour, and we're the ones in their way this week.
"We are going to try to do something that has never been done before. I am under no illusions, this is as difficult a test as you can have."
