Jordan Larmour's push for World Cup quarter-final selection could be successful as Ireland management try to balance form with experience for the knock-out stages.
The 22-year-old has been outstanding when he's played in Japan, particularly starting at no 15 against Scotland and Samoa in the pool stages, but Rob Kearney has been Ireland's first choice full-back for over a decade and is among a number of established players who have beaten the All Blacks before.
Joe Schmidt has to weigh all those factors as he puts together his line-up to face the world champions.
"A World Cup is a lot about form," said assistant boss Easterby. "Very quickly it starts and very quickly it can be over.
"We have to look at it and balance selection experience but also form at the time.
"It's a short window to get things right and if you don't get it quite right, you can be on the way home.
"It's great that we have so much to talk about selection.
"That maybe wasn't the case four years ago when we had a terrific game but a brutal one against France and we were patching each other up for that quarter-final.
"This week is about putting the best team available that we believe is the right one to go out and perform and get a result against the All Blacks.
"With that will come a number of debates and quandaries about who is the best person in each position".
