Joe Schmidt has named uncapped duo Ross Byrne and Tadhg Beirne in Ireland's squad for their summer tour of Australia next month as they prepare for games in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Fly-half Byrne has beaten Joey Carbery to the backup 10 jersey at Leinster this season and is rewarded for fine displays, including in the PRO14 semifinal defeat of Munster last week.
Beirne has been looking in from the outside since he played for Scarlets, but his move to Munster at the end of the season has seen him thrown into the international frame.
"This has probably been the most difficult selection process for the coaching group to date," Schmidt said. "We sat down on Monday morning to review the last pieces of footage and to discuss the balance and combinations that we felt we might need in Australia.
"At midday (Wednesday) we made the final decisions which included a number of very tough calls and some players are incredibly unlucky to miss out on selection.
"Over the past couple of months the national coaches have spent time in the provinces and been in communication with the provincial coaches who have done a super job in managing the players across the season."
IRELAND squad for 2018 Summer Tour of Australia
FORWARDS: Best, Beirne, Conan, Cronin, Furlong, Healy, Henderson, Herring, Leavy, McGrath, Murphy, O'Mahony, Porter, Roux, Ja. Ryan, Jo. Ryan, Stander, Toner.
BACKS: Aki, Byrne, Carbery, Conway, Cooney, Earls, Henshaw, Kearney, Larmour, Marmion, Murray, Ringrose, Sexton, Stockdale.