Munster out-half Tyler Bleyendaal says getting into the Irish set-up remains a "target" but concedes he has a lot of ground to make up on the current squad members.
The Kiwi playmaker became Ireland-qualified last year and has trained with the national team without getting an official call-up.
Current World Rugby Player of the Year Johnny Sexton, team-mate Joey Carbery, recently capped Ross Byrne and the in-form Jack Carty are all ahead in Joe Schmidt's estimation at the moment.
"[A call-up] is a target but it’s probably a long way away at the minute, purely [because of a] lack of game time and the performances of all the other out-halves in the country as well," said the 28-year-old, who missed a huge chunk of the 2017/18 season with a neck injury and has made just seven appearances this season.
"My focus is, it sounds clichéd, but it’s purely on this week’s prep [for the Guinness Pro14 game at Dragons]. If I get a shot at the weekend I’m really excited to get back out there and then what happens down the track is going to happen."
The former Crusaders man has a close-up view of one of the men keeping him on the outside, Carbery, who moved from Leinster in the summer.
The 23-year-old is currently in the form of his career, starring as Munster secured a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final away to Edinburgh with wins over Gloucester and Exeter.
"He has been outstanding now for the last month and it’s just huge, the way he knocked over that penalty [against Exeter] to get the lead and gave us that breathing space and then we just defended our hearts out," added the ex-New Zealand Under-20s player.
"Joey has been leading the team. You see the talent that he has, the skills but also the composure that he has.
"He is a young guy but he’s obviously played a lot of Tests now, he’s one of our leaders now, even though he’s that young."
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