It's no surprise that an aspiring Irish centre would quickly name Brian O'Driscoll as his favourite player growing up, but in a clear sign of how time flies, the young gun in question wasn't even born when Paris happened.
Back in 2000, O'Driscoll announced his arrival on the world stage by scoring a stunning hat-trick against France to secure a first away Ireland victory over Les Bleus since 1972.
But someone did Jamie Osborne a favour and kept the tapes, providing an invaluable database of peerless centre play over a decade and a half for the Naas RFC youngster to pour over.
"When I was a kid I had all the video tapes of Irish games, and the Triple Crowns, that I would love watching and Brian O'Driscoll was the standout player in all those matches," says Osborne, who received his first official call-up to the Ireland squad for the Guinness Six Nations.
"I loved the way he could do everything.
"His pace, his distribution but also in defence, he was able to make big reads and big hits. He was such an all-round player and yes, he was my favourite growing up.
"He was able to do everything at such a high level."
A Kildare native, 21-year-old Osborne's form this season with Leinster earned him a place in Andy Farrell's extended squad but he has had to bide his time, with Stuart McCloskey, Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki ahead in the pecking order, while Robbie Henshaw is currently rehabbing a wrist injury.
"I've really enjoyed the last couple of weeks," said Osborne, who will line out for Leo Cullen's side against the Dragons this evening in the BTK URC (7.35pm, live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
"At that level there is just much less time to react to different things and make decisions so for me it was about trying to see things as quickly as possible and being able to deliver.
"You have noticeably less time on the ball at that level."
The message from Farrell about what he wants is clear and simple.
"He said try to understand the way we want to play fully, get the understanding in how we want to attack, and how we want to defend and try to implement that in as much as possible in training.
"I think I went relatively well in training. I'm always trying to learn as much as possible."
Being a front-row witness to Ireland's scorching start to the Irish campaign without getting any game-time means that the back, who made his provincial bow against Scarlets in January 2021 and featured prominently in the Emerging Ireland team that toured South Africa at the end of the summer, is gagging to see some action.
"Definitely," says the 6' 3" utility back ahead of Leinster's bid to make it 14 league wins in a row, where they also call upon national squad members Jimmy O'Brien, Jordan Larmour and Michael Milne.
"The whole experience of the week building up to the internationals and watching the team, it really just makes you determined to get that spot.
"Obviously, I haven't played in a few weeks so I am really looking forward to getting on the pitch against Dragons, hopefully in front of a good crowd at the RDS."
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