Paul O'Connell acknowledges Ireland have never met Portugal in a rugby international before.Before admitting they once played a practice match against Portugal in The Algarve and deliberately stopped counting the score but he 'suspects' Ireland lost.Lost to Portugal!If this sounds like a secret emerging down the line, that's precisely what it was as the Ireland RWC 22023 squad hushed it up.As with most elite squads, who wants the load guns to be used against themselves!But O'Connell talking ahead of the sides meeting in Lisbon on Saturday was willing to give credit where credit was due. READ MORE: British and Irish Lions vs Brumbies player Ratings: The good, the average, and you won't be making the Test Team mate READ MORE: Calling for a 'leader' mid-Lions Tour highlights pre-Tour selection absurdity - There is Only One F in Foley "I suppose we've a good relationship with Portugal having trained against them prior to the 2023 World Cup and we kind of played (a match) that day we trained."We had 38 or 40 players and we had some discussions that we didn't want a lot of players on the sidelines so we ended up playing them in two kinds of training blocks."We had one team go against one of their teams and then put another team go against their other team and, certainly, the first team that played against us gave us plenty of trouble."They, I would say on that day, probably beat us in the training session. They did. We thought they were excellent."I suppose, there was an excellent attitude around playing to space, playing to space early, not afraid to make mistakes, not afraid to take risks."And the players still talk about that training session, you know, because we probably didn't expect them to be as good as they were."And then, on the back of that, we really enjoyed watching them together at the World Cup."Portugal were also using the work out as pre-RWC2023 World Cup preparation and, indeed, they put in a decent showing in France - lost 8-28 to Wales, drew 18-18 with Georgia, lost 14-34 to Australia and beat Fiji 24-23. "Some of the guys whose names we didn't know, we knew them after the training session and we really enjoyed following them."I thought they were excellent at that World Cup and probably enjoyed following their progress."Portugal played four games through 2024, beating Namibia 37-22, losing 21-64 to South Africa, losing 17-21 to USA and losing 21-59 to Scotland."Since the 2023 World Cup it's been great to see them playing the likes of South Africa and doing quite well, playing the likes of Scotland, and doing well, certainly scoring tries."So when we watch them, anyway, we like what we see. I like their attitude to the game, I think they are a little bit similar to us."They want to play in space, and they want to go to space as early as they can so I just hope from that World Cup they can kick on and keep developing as a team."O'Connell was speaking following naming the Ireland side to face Portugal, one which will feature three debutants, in Lisbon on Saturday night (7pm). They comprise Cork's Alex Kendellen, Salthill's Hugh Gavin and Shayne Bolton, Galway by way of Pretoria.Kendellen made his Munster debut in March 2021 and, 24 years of age, the back-row rests just eight short of 100 caps for the province.Jamie Osborne's Lions call-up prompted 21 year-old centre Gavin's promotion from the bench. In his first year as a senior pro at Connacht, he made 11 appearances through 2024/24, eight in the starting line-up.Bolton was particularly impressive for Ireland ‘A’ against England in February and started 13 of his 14 Connacht appearances this season, scoring seven tries.Craig Casey is captain again, Jack Crowley comes in to start at no10, Ryan Baird continues, Cian Prendergast returns from injury, Tom Ahern makes a first start following his Tbilisi debut.“I have been really pleased with the attitude of the players over the last number of weeks and this is another opportunity to go out and try to play our game. " said O'Connell."The dedication and diligence of the squad in testing conditions over in Tbilisi demonstrated the players’ willingness to embrace challenges and hopefully that bodes well again."Portugal are another impressive emerging side who look to play an exciting brand of rugby. We know that we’re in for another battle hopefully in front of another big crowd of travelling supporters."IRELAND v Portugal, Estádio Nacional do Jamor, Lisbon, 7pm local/7pm Irish, Virgin Media):**Portugal will become the 21st nation that Ireland has awarded caps against and the first “new” nation since facing Russia in 2002.Ireland Team *denotes uncapped15: Jimmy O’Brien (Naas/Leinster)(9)14: Tommy O’Brien (UCD/Leinster)(1)13: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians/Connacht)*12: Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster)(20)11: Shayne Bolton (Connacht)*10: Jack Crowley (Cork Con/Munster)(25)9: Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster)(capt)(19)1: Jack Boyle (UCD/Leinster)(3)2: Gus McCarthy (UCD/Leinster)(5)3: Thomas Clarkson (DUFC/Leinster)(7)4: Tom Ahern (Shannon/Munster)(1)5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers/Connacht)(1)6: Ryan Baird (DUFC/Leinster)(28)7: Alex Kendellen (UCC/Munster)*8: Cian Prendergast (UCD/Connacht)(4)Replacements:16: Tom Stewart (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(3)17: Michael Milne (UCD/Munster)(1)18: Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(16)19: Cormac Izuchukwu (Ballynahinch/Ulster)(2)20: Max Deegan (Lansdowne/Leinster)(3)21: Ben Murphy (Clontarf/Connacht)(1)22: Ciaran Frawley (UCD/Leinster)(8)23: Calvin Nash (Munster) READ MORE: Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 3: HOW TO stream Uma Thurman documentary, see Open Sparring, watch Press Conf, Weigh-In & Fight - the key info Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.