'This is his chance' - Andy Farrell on his uncapped five for New Zealand

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