There will be eight Ireland players involved in the British and Irish Lions team to face the Blues on Wednesday in the second match of their New Zealand tour, with four set to start.
An all-Irish Center partnership will be formed by Ulster’s Kiwi-born Jared Payne and Leinster’s Robbie Henshaw.
Up front, Jack McGrath will start at tight-head with CJ Stander in the number eight jersey.
Ireland captain Rory Best, Ulster’s Ian Henderson, Peter O’Mahony of Munster and Leinster out-half Sexton have all been named on the bench.
Ken Owens will captain the team on his Lions debut having skippered Scarlets to their recent Pro12 final win over Munster at the Aviva Stadium.
In all, eleven players will be making their debut for the tourists and head coach Warren Gatland has named a completely different team to the side that eked out a victory over New Zealand Provincial Barbarians on Saturday.
"We are excited to see what this team is able to do against the Blues," said Gatland.
"We have stated from the off that we want to give every player a start in the first three games and Wednesday is an opportunity for this set of players to show what they can do in a Lions jersey.
"It was good to get the win under our belts last weekend. The boys in the stand were itching to get their chance and they are really excited about Wednesday."
On this team, only Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb, Dan Cole and Justin Tipuric have played for the Lions before.
Wales number ten Dan Biggar has his chance to impress at out-half, with Sexton, who started against the Barbarians, held in reserve.
Speaking about Owens, the Kiwi coach said: "He has captained the Scarlets and has assumed a leadership role within the camp and it is a great opportunity for him.
"We are expecting a big crowd at Eden Park. It will be the first of three matches there for us and we know the atmosphere will be outstanding. We are hoping for some good weather and are expecting a tough, fast and open game of rugby.
"We have a few work-ons from last weekend and we know we need to be more clinical. We created some good opportunities against the Barbarians but didn't see them through and that is something we want to improve on."
British and Irish Lions: Leigh Halfpenny; Jack Nowell, Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Elliot Daly; Dan Biggar, Rhys Webb; Jack McGrath, Ken Owens, Dan Cole; Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes; James Haskell, Justin Tipuric, CJ Stander
Replacements: Rory Best, Joe Marler, Kyle Sinckler, Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Greig Laidlaw, Johnny Sexton, Liam Williams.
