Andy Farrell says it "makes sense" for Joey Carbery to keep his place against Italy ahead of skipper Johnny Sexton in an Ireland side that has six personnel changes and two positional switches from the Six Nations loss to France last time out.
The Ireland supremo says that James Ryan, who was the captain in Paris, misses out due to an adductor issue, while Bundee Aki and Andrew Conway are both rested to recover from niggling injuries.
The headline news is that Carbery has held onto the no 10 jersey despite the return to fitness of Sexton, who missed the Stade de France encounter with a hamstring injury.
The Leinster star is named on the bench, with Peter O'Mahony parachuted into the back row to captain the side at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
"Joey stepped in very late last week in that Johnny got injured on the last training day of the week," said Farrell.
"He obviously didn’t get a full week to prepare, to run the side, he gets that opportunity this week on the back of a good performance.
"After analysing the performance, Joey would admit to you himself that he would love the opportunity to put a few things right and add to that performance and add to that experience at this level so it just makes sense.
"And the person who agrees with that is Johnny and he’s the captain of the side, he wants what’s best for the team.
“Back to back Test matches is a great experience for anyone, especially someone in a pivotal position like fly-half.
"Joey handled the occasion very well last week. There’s a lot that he’s learned from the game and he is ready to put that into action this week."
Despite the unexpected number of changes that sees full-back Mike Lowry, hooker Dan Sheehan and second row Ryan Baird make first their Six Nations starts - in Lowry's case it is also his Test debut - Farrell is expecting another top quality and focused performance from the men in green.
Farrell said: "This is a full-blown Test match and we expect ourselves to be at our best and that’s the responsibility of the group that is selected.
"The lads selected have earned the right. James Lowe has come back in and was up to speed straight away.
"He fitted in and started to add to how we want to play the game. That was evident from the first session.
"Mack Hansen and Craig Casey (who is named on the bench) have done that, Ryan Baird and Michael Lowry have done that.
"These guys deserve the chance and they earn that by showing everyone they are ready."
The inclusion of Lowry for Hugo Keenan, who is rested completely after starting the last 18 Test matches, gives the Ulster man the opportunity to show what he can do.
“Regarding Mike, we’re all excited to see him get his chance. He deserves it," said Farrell.
"He came into camp first and foremost over the summer as a stand-in and he performed very well in training under pressure then and since and you can see it has whetted his appetite.
“You can see it in his performances for Ulster but more importantly we have seen it under pressure here in camp which is sometimes far and away the most extreme pressure that the lads can be put under.
"Lads like Mikey deserve the chance because they have shown everyone they are ready.”
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