Ireland head-coach Andy Farrell says Caelan Doris is "super excited" ahead of making his debut in Saturday's Guinness Six Nations opener against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.
The Mayo-native Leinster back-row has been rewarded for his provincial form by being selected at number-eight for the visit of Gregor Townsend's side.
Doris' Leinster teammate Ronan Kelleher has recovered from a hand injury to take his place on the bench and the young hooker is also in line to win his first cap.
"They’ve been great, the young kids are ready to go," Farrell told Irish Rugby TV at their pre-tournament camp in Portugal.
"Caelan is super-excited, and Ronan is coming back from injury, but he’s been back in and done absolutely everything with us so far in this camp. He’s looking very solid as well."
Conor Murray has won the competition to start at scrum-half, with European player of the year nominee John Cooney having content himself with a place on the bench.
"It's unbelievably tough, Luke McGrath misses out and he’s been playing really well," the Ireland coach said of the competition for the nine shirt.
"We’ve had three really competitive training sessions here and Luke’s been right up there, but somebody’s got to miss out.
"Conor’s been great, in and around the group, his training, his calmness under pressure in training over here and that’s been great for the group and he’s in good form as well.
"Everyone knows what type of form John is in, but he’s had a few protocols as far as his HIA is concerned, but he’s got a couple of sessions under his belt and he’s ready to go."
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