Tommy Bowe is hopeful that he will recover from a knee injury in time to take part in next year's Six Nations, despite initially being ruled out of action for up to six months.
The winger damaged his cruciate ligament during Ireland's World Cup defeat to Argentina and it was announced last month that he would miss Ireland's title defence.
However, he told RTÉ's Sunday Sport that he now hopes to be back playing "sometime soon in the new year".
"It drives me mad, I hate it. You want to be out there, you want to be a part of it."
Ireland begin their Six Nations campaign against Wales in Dublin on 7 February.
“I'm on the road to recovery at the minute," Bowe said. "The operation was done over four weeks ago. I just have to rest and recuperate for a couple of months and I’ll hopefully get myself back onto the pitch some time soon in the new year.
"I had a chat with Joe. He’s aware of my situation and he’s aware that I'm going to do my best to get myself back into reasonable shape for whatever competitions are available – whether that’s the Six Nations or the summer tour, who knows? "
Bowe said that despite requiring surgery the injury wasn't as bad as he had initially feared.
"The match against Argentina, I came off after 12 minutes and we were already 14-0 down," he said. "To have to go off on a stretcher and watch the rest of the game in the medical room was pretty difficult.
"At the time I thought it was quite serious. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as it could have been – it could have been a lot worse. I’m very positive, it’s feeling good and strong.
"I'll have a brace on it until January. It’s a pain in the neck. But if things are looking good then there might be a chance to come out of it then.
"It is awkward. I've been on crutches since the operation. It’s not ideal but the brace is there to make me better so it’s doing the job.
"It drives me mad, I hate it. You want to be out there, you want to be a part of it. Through the good wins you want to be in the changing room to celebrate and with the bad losses you think you could have made a difference. That’s always difficult."
Despite the disappointment of Ireland again failing to progress past the quarter-final stage of a World Cup and the Irish provinces' struggles in the Champions Cup, the Ulster man insists it's not all doom and gloom for Irish rugby.
"The Irish provinces have found it difficult [in Europe] but if you look at the broader picture, we are back-to-back Six Nations champions," he said. "We beat France convincingly in the World Cup, and Italy.
"We had it all there for us to make it to the semi-final. Argentina played their best game of the tournament against us and we were within a whisker at certain stages to come back and go in front. I think if we had gone in front it would have been a huge momentum shift."
