Four weeks on from suffering a frightening head injury against Scotland in the Six Nations, it would have been understandable to expect that Garry Ringrose would need a bit of time to settle himself back into the cut and thrust of the game.
The reality was that he needed little more than a minute.
From the moment he sent Dan Kelly sideways with a dummy and galloped in to score a try after just 73 seconds of Friday night's 55-24 win against the Leicester Tigers, the 28-year-old was the best player on the pitch, adding another try, and setting up the third when the game was still there to be won or lost.
The fluidity of his attack was probably never in doubt though. For a centre who has built a reputation for being a hard-hitting and aggressive defender, it was going to be interesting to see if his early tackling had the same levels of grunt after what had happened at Murrayfield.
But shortly after scoring that first try, he found himself in a similar situation to the incident that left him knocked out in Edinburgh, tracking across to his right to try tackle player on the move, before cutting through Mike Brown like a torpedo.
And Ringrose says there was never a hint of trepidation on his part about whether or not he was ready to return.
"I don't think Leinster or Ireland or anyone would put you back out if there was any doubt," he said.
"I was back training that Wednesday in a non-contact capacity and then working with Sean O'Brien, gradually reintroducing contact and hitting him a few times, so it was a good way to get the confidence back, if you can manage him then it's alright coming to playing in the games.
"I was probably close to being available for Ulster but speaking to independent specialists and Leinster as well, I erred on the side of caution, so that there was complete confidence this week."
The injury against Scotland had been a terrifying incident, with the Ireland centre's head colliding with the hip of Blair Kinghorn, knocking him unconscious, which he says it was more worrying for his family watching on as the medics spent considerable time treating him, before carting him off the pitch.
"It was just kind of a rugby incident. I caught his hip, which is like concrete when you catch someone's hip and I caught the wrong side of my head. It wasn't too bad for me because I was knocked out, it was probably a bit worse for everyone there and watching on TV.
"Like, the medics looked after me unbelievably well and with the oxygen and the neck brace and stuff, it made it look worse than it actually was.
"But they have to what's right by the player and not take any chances, so that's what they were doing.
"It's not ideal, but my old man was over there, he was able to be with me after, I went to hospital and got all the necessary scans and spoke to the right specialists over the last two or three weeks to get the all clear so I was able to come out here and play with confidence and not question anything that I had done before because I was so well looked after."
And the Leinster centre says the incident has caused him to examine his own tackle technique, having got his head on the wrong side of the ball carrier.
"Kinghorn just went a little bit in and then out, so just swerved real late and I got my head caught on the wrong side. So obviously for myself technique-wise, can be a little bit better, be a bit more patient and then kind of chase my feet in so the head is in the right place.
"But I've made that tackle loads. I'd argue a little bit… Take responsibility for the technique but then also just a little bit unlucky.
"As I said, it wasn’t too bad and experience for me because I was just knocked out and it was all good after that," he added.
In the 60 minutes where Leinster's win against the Tigers was in the balance, it was Ringrose who led by example at the Aviva Stadium, with a hand in the first three tries, while the jackal penalty he won in his own half, shortly after Caelan Doris's yellow card, swung momentum back in his side's favour at a crucial stage.
The province scored a penalty and a try in that 10-minute spell when they were down a man, and Ringrose was thrilled with the response of his team-mates to going a man down, while also praising the leadership of individuals in the squad, who are stepping up in the absence of Johnny Sexton.
"Johnny is the standard bearer for Leinster Rugby. He's taken Leinster to a place in Europe, there’s obviously loads of people involved but he’s carried a lot of that weight.
"That’s the challenge for us. It’s big boots to fill, he’s still obviously in the environment and helps us out and we can pull on his experience but then lads have to step up as well and I think it’s bringing the best out of people.
"Sometimes when a negative happens that kind of galvanises you a bit. It really sharpened our focus. The challenge would be not waiting for something like that to happen. But yeah, we can be pleased with how we responded to that because the nature of the game, it's probably gonna happen again. Ideally it won’t, but you’ve got to be prepared for those moments and we can take a bit of confidence from that."
