Andy Farrell says Ireland A's clash with the All Blacks XV is about testing who wants to be in the World Cup conversation.
Jacob Stockdale makes his return in green this week but will do so in the A game rather than against South Africa on Saturday.
The Ulster flyer is among eight capped players who Ireland boss Farrell will be looking to impress him and his coaching staff a the RDS Arena.
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Stockdale was in the mix for a wing role against South Africa in the absence of James Lowe, Keith Earls and Andrew Conway, and with Hugo Keenan a doubt for Saturday's Test.
However Farrell is using the 26-year-old's experience against the All Blacks selection in an Ireland A side that will be skippered by Craig Casey.
With that in mind, it seems that Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park will face the Springboks, that Conor Murray will make his 100th Test cap and that Robert Baloucoune could be the one to profit on the wing for Ireland with Stockdale playing the night before.
"We get to see who is serious about wanting to be in the room, not just for the medium or long term which some of these guys obviously are, but for the short-term as well," said Farrell.
"Come the Six Nations, we want a big headache as a coaching staff, that we understand that we have grown the pool and that it's one of a very competitive nature regarding Six Nations selection.
"This is why we're doing it, this is the whole point in regards to making sure everyone... we've had 50 lads in the same room all week, they're looking at each other and they know who the competition is.
"It doesn't matter if you class yourself as a senior player or a new kid on the block, we'll see who has got the hunger from the experience they've had.
"We all know Jacob has been out injured for quite some time, and there are a few lads that staked a place pretty well over the last 12 months but Jacob coming back at the start of the season has shown a lot of hunger in my eyes.
"I know he's not played for a couple of weeks, but his hunger at the start of the season, how he attacked the season shows me the fight and the want to get his spot back, so he gets the opportunity to show us how he's going to push forward with the rest of the season."
Stockdale and Casey are the among eight Test players who will feature, along with James Hume, Michael Lowry, Dave Heffernan, Tom O'Toole, Nick Timoney and Gavin Coombes.
On his decision to make Casey his captain, Farrell said: "He's an obvious choice for us.
"We broached the subject straight away and it was unanimous it would be Craig. Why? Because it's him being himself, he's a natural leader, just the way he handles himself on a daily basis in and around everyone.
"He's the ultimate professional, he prepares really well, and he's been in this environment for some time now so the responsibility is a nice step in his journey as well."
The side features 12 players who played against the Māori All Blacks during the summer tour of New Zealand.
Casey will be partnered at half-back by Ciarán Frawley, who will look to enhance his chances of playing next week's Test against Fiji with a big display on his province Leinster's home turf.
The other 10 are Coombes, Heffernan, Hume, Jeremy Loughman, Lowry, Joe McCarthy, Jimmy O’Brien, O’Toole, Cian Prendergast and Timoney.
Jamie Osborne is one of three from the Emerging Ireland squad in the starting line up, alongside Prendergast and McCarthy.
Diarmuid Barron, Jack Crowley, Max Deegan and Calvin Nash, who were also on the Emerging Ireland Tour to South Africa, are named among the replacements.
Among the replacements is Marty Moore, whose last game for Ireland was against Scotland in March 2015.
"Some of the lads have been involved in three or four camps and not had an opportunity that they think they deserve," explained Farrell.
"Some of those lads are on one, two, three, four, five caps; they want an opportunity as well as the Emerging Ireland boys to show what they've learnt over a period of time.
"Again, it's just about opportunity; creating that opportunity for them to show their work to their peers in the shop window on a Friday night in the RDS.
"It's valuable to all concerned.
"You look at that and there are lads like Robert Baloucoune, for example, whose been in many camps and not had the opportunity, Joe McCarthy and Cian Prendergast and a few others as well.
"They've been in, they've not been capped and it's their chance to show they're ready for the big stage.
"It's an opportunity to show they can handle that stage and let's hope it transfers into a cap.
"I think the more opportunity, the better it will be for Irish rugby. I suppose things have to be in place for this kind of thing to continue to happen.
"But to give lads an opportunity to show their growth, and what normally happens when we come into a different environment, they learn from each other and go back to their clubs and their own personal development improves.
"That can only be a good thing we need to look at."
Ireland 'A' v All Blacks XV (RDS, Friday, November 4th, 7.45pm): Lowry, O'Brien, Osborne, Hume, Stockdale, Frawley, Casey; Loughman, Heffernan, O'Toole, McCarthy, Thornbury, Prendergast, Timoney, Coombes.
Replacements: Barron, Kilcoyne, Moore, Molony, Deegan, Blade, Crowley, Nash.
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