The 22-year-old Naas native has been part of numerous Ireland squads before now, but he’s been given the nod for the eagerly anticipated clash between the world’s No 1 and 2 ranked sides.

Osborne has played most of his rugby in the midfield for Leinster, but Farrell has no fears about pressing him into service in Hugo Keenan’s absence despite having Jimmy O’Brien, Jordan Larmour, Jacob Stockdale and Ciarán Frawley in the squad who have all played No 15 under his stewardship.

He identified the Leinster man as the full-back for this game from the outset of this tour.

“We slotted him in at No 15 10 days ago now, said: ‘You’re in at 15, how’s it going, Jamie?’ ‘Yeah, great, I’m all across it, no problem’. He’s a quiet lad and he comes across as quite shy but he’s not. He’s confident in his own ability. You can tell with how he prepares, how he plays the game et cetera and he’s all across his stuff within a few days and he’s very comfortable,” Farrell said.

“It’s a privilege for us to be able to name somebody in the starting line-up for their debut, especially on an occasion like this, so congratulations to Jamie. We’ll celebrate that tonight with him. I’m sure we’ll do him proud on Saturday as well.