Calvin Nash didn't burst onto the international scene.
There have been many Irish backs, the likes of Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose and, most notably, Brian O'Driscoll, seemed to arrive straight from school.
O'Driscoll and Larmour were 20 when making their debuts, while Ringrose was just a year older on his bow in 2016.
Nash, who will make his first Six Nations appearance tomorrow night against France in Marseille, won his first and only cap against Italy in a World Cup warm-up match last August when he was three days short of his 26th birthday.
Injuries to Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien have opened the door and Nash gets the nod over former U20 wing partner Lamour.
"All you need in life is an opportunity, and it's a big one for Calvin," said head coach Andy Farrell.
Limerick native Nash, who stands 5’ 10" and weighs in at 14st, has been evolving.
Dormant for a long period, Nash took full advantage of the IRFU’s revival of the 'A’ team.
He played twice in a three-game 'Emerging Ireland’ tour of South Africa in 2022 and started in the RDS when the ‘A’ team hosted a New Zealand selection.
Nash was also benefitting from an extended run in the Munster side.
Having made his debut in 2017, he only featured sporadically, picking up 37 games over six seasons.
But that changed as Graham Rowntree’s side went on that crazy BKT URC title run last year.
The former Crescent College schoolboy scored seven tries in 17 appearances in all competitions, including a crucial touchdown in the 19-14 victory over Stormers in the final (below).
Speaking earlier this week ahead of Munster’s match against Crusaders in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, both Rowntree and team-mate Shane Daly commented on how much Nash had matured since his days in the academy.
"He has really knuckled down in his game and become very professional and diligent around his preparation and his recovery," said Rowntree, who joined the club as forwards coach in 2019.
Daly, capped twice by Ireland, has come up the ranks alongside Nash and couldn’t help but smile when asked how Nash has matured.
"I think he was a bit...I don’t know about saying it on camera but he’s matured massively over the years and he’s a real senior player for us now," he said.
Asked if Nash was a messer, to use the colloquial, Daly replied with a laugh: "Yeah, that was probably the technical term, I couldn’t think of the right way to put it."
Tomorrow night is Nash’s chance to stake a claim and he’s up against Yoram Moefana, who usually plays in the centre.
It’s an opportunity that Rowntree is backing Nash to take.
The former England prop said: "His work in the air, look at the try he scored against Toulon. His kick-chase, he’s been leading, literally, leading all the data because we measure kick-chase and he’s been leading that for a while now.
"But he’s really knuckled down on the detail of his game, his handling and his defence in particular, he’s really responded to Denis [Leamy, defence coach] coming into the club.
"So he’s become, in my humble view, a lot more professional and he’s had a taste for it.
"You can see the light’s really go on in him, he’s had a taste for things and he wants to get better."
Another interested spectator is former Ireland and Munster out-half Ronan O’Gara, now holding the reins at back-to-back European champions La Rochelle.
"He has been consistently good," he said.
"When you aren’t in the team, you need to do more than the incumbent.
"In this case there was an injury, so there’s an opening for someone.
"He has been very good for Munster, I think his game will suit the Test game. He’s very, very brave, and nowadays, if your wingers are brave, it adds so much to the team."
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