PAUL O’Connell has warned his Ireland debutants that they will have no easy introduction to Test rugby.
Tommy O’Brien and Darragh Murray will make their international bows as starters against Georgia on Saturday.
Munster duo Michael Milne and Tom Ahern as well as Connacht pair Jack Aungier and Ben Murphy are also poised to win their first caps off the bench.
A further 11 members of the matchday 23 are in single figures when it comes to Test appearances.
But, while Georgia might, on paper, look like an easier assignment than what they could have been handed, O’Connell is expecting a tough task.
The interim Ireland coach said: “We’ve had so many players selected for the Lions. There’s another bonus for us in that we get this really tough Test match in a country that is full of confidence in how their rugby is going.
“These guys have a real challenge on their hands. It’s not a Test match of small significance. It’s a really significant Test match where they have to perform. So they’re going to learn a lot.
“Georgia are an excellent side. They’re a very proud rugby nation, but they’re really well coached as well.
“We know a lot of their coaches, obviously Conor McPhillips, Roddy Grant. I would have learned an awful lot from Roddy Grant when I first came into the job at Ireland. He was working in Ulster at the time.
“You can see it in how they play. They’re very well organised. I suppose a little bit like us.
“They’re quite passionate about what they do and they’re able to combine that now with some really good organisation and really good structure to what they do.
“They have a mixture of players playing in France who bring a real, I suppose, flair to what they do. And the Black Lions players have impressed a lot of the coaches as well.
“They did a good autumn. They obviously beat Tonga. They had a good summer last year. They put 29 points on Australia down there.
“They beat a tier-one nation in Japan. They’ve been steadily beating tier-one nations. So, yeah,It’s a brilliant Test match for our players.”
And O’Connell admitted he cannot expect the perfect performance from a group of players who are not overly familiar with each other.
He said: “Really you’re trying to come together on a Monday and trying to be ready to play a Test match with no excuses on the following Saturday.
“It won’t be perfect. We’re aware that when we play even with the most experienced internationals in the group that it won’t be perfect so trying to make the players aware of that as well is really important and we just have to crack on then.
“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of nerves, but that’s part of it. You almost have to experience that and go through it a little bit to learn how to figure it out.”
IRELAND: J O’Brien (Leinster), T O’Brien (/Leinster), Osborne (Leinster), McCloskey (Ulster), Stockdale (Ulster), S Prendergast (Leinster), Casey (Munster, captain); Boyle (Leinster), McCarthy (Leinster), Clarkson (Leinster), Izuchukwu (Ulster), Murray (Connacht), Baird (Leinster),Timoney (Ulster), Coombes (Munster).
Replacements: Stewart (Ulster), Milne (Munster), Aungier (Connacht), Ahern (Munster), C Prendergast (Connacht), Murphy (Connacht), Crowley (/Munster), Nash (Munster).
