We can safely say that Joe McCarthy had a lie-in on Monday morning.
After an energy-sapping 80-minute shift for Ireland against Italy on Sunday afternoon, the Leinster lock had big plans for the night ahead.
Super Bowl, baby!
It's unknown if the 22-year-old, who won his seventh cap at the Aviva Stadium, lasted the duration as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime at about 4.30am Irish time, but that was the plan anyway.
"Yeah, Super Bowl Sunday, I will [watch it]. It’ll be a good watch with the boys," he said after the 36-0 win, which puts Ireland top of the Guinness Six Nations standings after two rounds.
It’s no surprise that the 6ft 6in, 17st second row is a gridiron fan.
McCarthy, born in the USA, made two big sacks on Italy out-half Paolo Garbisi that wouldn’t look out of place in the defensive line.
"I love the defensive side of the game, probably like it more than the attack sometimes," he said.
"They say defence wins championships, so it is good.
"I love getting off the line, I love pressuring teams, love getting them 'man and ball', getting in at rucks
"I like watching the defensive players in NFL, like seeing the stuff they do.
"At the moment I like Maxx Crosby from the Raiders. I liked JJ Watt when he played.
"He is a beast, or was, he is retired now. I don’t think I’ll be changing over to the NFL any time soon. I’ll stick with the rugby.
"I was born in New York so I’d probably say [I'm a fan of] the Giants. The Jets had Aaron Rodgers so I’d suppose I’d say a New York team but I am not a crazy big follower."
Italy only had two visits to the Irish 22 throughout the six-try defeat and it was the first time in 37 years - since Ireland defeated England in 1987 - that they kept a team scoreless in the championship.
"I suppose we were happy enough to keep them to zero," added McCarthy (pictured in action above), who took four clean lineout balls.
"We placed a lot of emphasis on our defence this week, so we are pretty happy with zero. We kept going after them. They had a very good attack so pleased enough.
"We were told we didn’t want to just contain them and be comfortable, the emphasis was to get off the line."
Another man who was impressed with the shutout was Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber, a defence specialist, who helped the Springboks to back-to-back World Cups.
"I thought it was beautiful," Nienaber, who recalled that his South Africa side trained with the University of Michigan Wolverines team in Cape Town in 2019, told RTÉ Sport.
"I texted the lads afterwards. I just said that 'zero' does look beautiful.
"For any defence coach, it's a thing of beauty.
"But obviously the pressure you put on from an attacking point of view creates that.
"If you have scoreboard pressure like Ireland had they [Italy] have to take more risks and from deeper, which probably puts you in a better position so it is always a thing of beauty, a 'zero'."
McCarthy, who made his debut last year, is fast becoming the breakthrough player of the Six Nations, following a man-of-the-match performance against France and another big showing against the Azzurri.
He said: "There is way more attention in the Six Nations, you can feel it, much more than club games.
"It is good, you are getting a lot of nice mentions; you’re trying to block it out and just go back to the process.
"I felt I was ready to go [in last year’s championship] but an ankle injury kept me out for a few months. That happens. It’s great to get an opportunity now and I am looking forward to it."
Watch a URC double-header, Leinster v Benetton (3pm) and Cardiff v Connacht (5.15pm) on Saturday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
Follow the RTÉ Sport WhatsApp channel for the best news, interviews, analysis and features, as well as details of our sports coverage across all RTÉ platforms.
