Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is set to hand a test debut to young, New Zealand-born first five Joey Carbery following Paddy Jackson's withdrawal from the Ireland squad due to personal reasons.
Carbery, who turns 21 tomorrow (NZT), has only played nine games for Irish province Leinster in the Pro12 and the European Champions Cup, but is likely to be thrust onto the Irish bench, with veteran Jonathan Sexton set to run the cutter from the get-go.
A first ever Ireland appearance would cap off a meteoric rise for the Auckland-born youngster, after having moved to Irish town Athy at the age of 11, before going on to be picked up by the Leinster academy after a stellar secondary school career.
Carbery impressed Schmidt while competing in the Ulster Bank League final last season, while he caught the eye of former World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry during his time with the club earlier this year.
Schmidt has selected Carbery ahead of the far more experienced Ian Madigan, who now plys his trade at club level for Bordeaux.
The addition of another New Zealander in the Irish squad adds to the Kiwi flavour within the side, with coach Schmidt and centre Jared Payne both New Zealanders themselves.
Meanwhile, Ireland will be without three of their leading loose forwards for this weekend's test against the All Blacks in Chicago.
Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahoney and Iain Henderson have all remained in Ireland having been deemed not ready for test rugby.
O'Brien has only played a couple of game for Leinster having just returned from a long term hamstring injury, while O'Mahoney is also just back playing after damaging knee ligaments at last year's Rugby World Cup.
Henderson's issue is more recent, having picked up a shoulder injury just a fortnight ago.
Ireland, who have never beaten the All Blacks in 28 tests, are paying $9 at the New Zealand TAB to hand the All Blacks their first defeat of 2016.