When Rory Best made his international debut for Ireland, Roy Keane was still a Manchester United player and Munster, never mind Leinster, had yet to win the European Cup.
The Ulster man, in his second year as a senior player, was ushered off the bench to face the All Blacks in a resounding 45-7 defeat at Lansdowne Road.
Fast forward 12 years and the hooker has packed quite a lot into a career that has been kind on the injury front.
Best has turned out for Ulster on 204 occasions, though he has just the 2006 League success to show in terms of silverware. You can add into the mix 106 Ireland caps, three Six Nations titles, a Grand Slam and two Lions tours after cementing his position in the team following the retirement of Jerry Flannery.
Others have come and gone, while Seán Cronin, Rob Herring, Niall Scannell and James Tracy are among the current crop hoping to put pressure on the number two jersey, but Best remains a constant.
Now entering his third Six Nations as Ireland captain, the senior member in Schmidt’s panel is relishing the chance to lead his country into battle again.
"There’s no doubt when you get that little bit older, get a few more caps, you realise that the training becomes more of a job," he told RTÉ Sport at the launch for the 2018 NatWest Six Nations campaign.
"The lead-up to the games, the day before the game, arriving at the ground, the anthems, the kick-off, that’s all the stuff I loved when I started playing and I love more than ever now. You appreciate it more."
There is no chance of fatigue setting in either. A member of Warren Gatland’s Lions squad that left New Zealand shores with a drawn series, he was given an extended break before returning to action in late October.
Indeed, the Craigavon native started just one game before the clean sweep of victories over South Africa, Fiji and Argentina in November and is reaping the benefits from a physical standpoint.
First up for Ireland in the Championship is a trip to Paris to take on Jacques Brunel’s underachieving France.
Les Bleus go into the Championship with a recent change in head coach following the axing of Guy Noves, while an investigation over FFR president Bernard Laporte hangs in the air following a police raid on their headquarters.
On the pitch, they have just accumulated just seven wins in 21 games and their recent record in the competition doesn't make for positive reading, with an average place of fourth since 2011.
In spite of that, and the paths of both teams over the past decade, Ireland’s record on French soil reads just three wins in 46 years, with many sobering defeats in that period.
Best, however, feels it has little bearing for the current crop of players.
"Historically, Ireland sides, and I have been involved in some, have been 20, 30 points down in as many minutes.
"The difference with this squad is that there are a lot of players who have gone away to French clubs and won, and have won big games. There is an element of confidence in our ability."
Another fillip is the performance of Irish sides in Europe.
Leinster and Munster and have both secured home quarter-finals in the Champions Cup, while Connacht too will enjoy the home comforts of the Sportsground for their last eight clash in the Challenge Cup.
Ulster were in the shake-up going into their pool finale against Wasps, but their topsy-turvy season took another nosedive when they were dispatched at the Ricoh Arena.
Best, however, says the momentum from the other three provinces will have a knock-on effect in the Irish camp.
"There is an element of whenever you finish on a high, the bodies are never quite as sore. The three provinces with home quarter-finals to look forward to, they are going to be buoyed by that.
"For the Ulster players, it was a very tough game in Wasps, but they are a very good side. I feel that we can still take enough from the last two games in Europe to suggest that Ulster are turning (a corner).
"The form and momentum you get from winning big games in Europe, you have to strip all that back and make sure that that form and momentum is steered in the direction of the national team and is used in the best possible way."
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