The middle week of the November Internationals is often the place for new faces in an Irish squad. This year, with injuries, a surprise defection to France, a residency rule qualification, and one eye already on the 2019 World Cup, we've already seen a new look team line out for Ireland in this series.
Following on from the demolition of South Africa, Joe Schmidt was always going to have a look at even more new faces for the easiest of Ireland's three fixtures, and he's done that, keeping just Andrew Conway and Devin Toner from the team that started against the Springboks.
Munster's Chris Farrell will make his Ireland debut after a promising start to the season on his return to Ireland. He's partner former Ulster teammate Stuart McCloskey in the centre.
Ireland Team Vs Fiji
Here's the Ireland team for #IREvFIJ #GuinnessSeries in @AVIVAStadium on Saturday #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/ytnojGkcwG
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 16, 2017
The most interesting selection was always going to be who Joe Schmidt saw as Johnny Sexton's natural replacement going into the Six Nations. With Ian Keatley in and out of the Munster team, and Joey Carberry playing most of his rugby this season at full-back, it wasn't a straight forward choice, but as expected, the coach has gone for the Leinster man to play at No. 10 for Saturday's game.
On the bench, Cian Healy, Tadhg Furlong, CJ Stander and Robbie Henshaw take their place, with the coach opting to fully rest the likes of Conor Murray, Sexton, Rory Best, Iain Henderson and Sean O'Brien.
Kieran Marmion and Dave Kearney are the two in a young backline who you call experienced internationals with 17 and 16 caps respectively. Alongside them, Andrew Conway (4), Darren Sweetnam (1), McCloskey (1), and Carberry (5) have just 11 caps combined.
Up front, Jack McGrath returns to the team, while try scorer against South Africa Rob Herring will start at hooker.
Devin Toner is perhaps a surprise inclusion, alongside Connacht's Ultan Dillane in the second row.
In the back row, Rhys Ruddock will follow on his brilliant performance off the bench last week by captaining his country this weekend. His Leinster teammates Jack Conan and Jordi Murphy, who played for the Barbarians last week, make up the back row.
Fiji, ever the great entertainers of international rugby, played a far more dour than normal peformance in Italy last week, putting it up to their hosts before eventually succumbing to a 19-10 defeat.
