In rugby terms, Calvin Nash is a bit of a unicorn; both a prodigious talent and a late developer.
It's a little under 10 years ago to the day since he was starting on the wing for Crescent College as a 4th year student in their Munster Schools Senior Cup final against neighbours Ardscoil Rís, helping them win an 11th provincial senior title.
One month later, he was part of on an Ireland U18 Schools side that reached the final of the European Championships against England in Poland. Still only 16-years-old at the time, Nash was playing an age-group above in a side that contained the likes of Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale, Max Deegan and Will Connors. When many of those players were getting to an U20 World Championship final two years later, Nash was sitting his Leaving Cert.
His love for rugby started at the age of 10. Growing up in Crecora, a small village south of Limerick City, rugby wasn't in the family. His closest link to the game was his grandad Eamon, who he says helped build Young Munster’s clubhouse at Tom Clifford Park, although grandad Eamon never actually set foot on the pitch.
"I played hurling and football, but I was actually useless at hurling so I wanted to give that up for ages, but my parents wouldn't allow me," says the 26-year-old.
"I was mad to try and get it into the primary school back in the day, but they wouldn't allow it.
"I literally just saw rugby on TV one time, my family were watching it and I just asked my dad if I could play it, and he brought me down to Young Munster then, and it kind of just went from there.
"I fell in love with rugby and I went into Crescent [College Comprehensive] then and it took off."
By the time he was 15, Nash was marked down as one of the elite prospects in Munster, and played Cup rugby in five of his six years at the school, reaching a Junior Cup final in 2013 and Senior Cup finals in 2014 and 2016, winning with 'Comp’ in 2014.
"Crescent, I think, was a massive influence," he added of the Limerick school, which was the breeding ground for several other Ireland internationals, among them David Wallace and Eoin Reddan.
"When I look back on it, probably some of the most enjoyable days playing rugby, I had great coaches. The likes of Tony Trehy, Eugene McGovern, Doyler [Conan Doyle], all those, great experiences that stands to us and great and fond memories."
Such was his frustration at another injury in early 2022, he briefly contemplated retirement. In January, Zebo revealed he'd talked Nash out of packing the game in that year, and Nash confirmed that sliding doors moment after his first Six Nations start last month.
Upon leaving school in 2016, Nash stepped straight into the Munster academy, before captaining Ireland’s U20s the following year.
He looked to be a senior international in-waiting, and while he’s now a couple of games away from a potential Guinness Six Nations Grand Slam, that journey took a little longer than expected.
Of his 66 appearances for Munster since 2017, 37 of those have come in the last two-and-a-half years, while two-thirds of his tries have also fallen in that period.
His delayed arrival on the scene can be attributed to a few different factors. For one, he was jostling for position at a time when Munster's back-three stocks were loaded. Keith Earls, Andrew Conway and Simon Zebo were big-game players and all internationals when Nash was making his way through the province, and even when Zebo departed for Racing 92 in 2018, Mike Haley’s arrival quickly filled any potential gaps.
Injuries also played a part, as they stuttered his progress in his early 20s, while Munster’s game plan under Johann van Graan was one that rarely allowed the wide men to catch the eye.
Such was his frustration at another injury in early 2022, he briefly contemplated retirement. In January, Zebo revealed he’d talked Nash out of packing the game in that year, and Nash confirmed that sliding doors moment after his first Six Nations start last month.
"I was obviously in quite a low [place] and like I said, it’s good to chat to lads who are around you and who have been through it as well.
"But it’s nice to hear it from Zebo, who has ridiculous experience, to say ‘stick with it, you have unbelievable coaches coming in and they’ll end up picking you’.
"I could have thought Zebo was blowing smoke up my hole to be honest. But yeah, it was nice to hear."
The "unbelievable coach" Nash mentioned above was Mike Prendergast.
The Limerick man – and fellow Crescent College alum – returned to his home province to work as attack coach for Graham Rowntree in 2022, having spent several years doing the same role with Racing 92.
Under the new coaching ticket, Nash’s role in the team changed rapidly. While he was still needs to gallop up and down the tram-tracks chasing kicks, he and Munster’s other wingers have been encouraged to drift infield looking for possession.
"I've had a lot of conversations with Mike to try to develop my game," he adds.
"Because, as I said, one of my work-ons was to get on the ball a lot more and I feel like Mike coming in has helped me a lot in just, you know, getting on the ball really and just using my abilities.
This evening, he'll earn his fifth cap and fourth consecutive start on what will be his first time visiting - not to mention playing at - Twickenham.
"Obviously we play more of an attacking brand of rugby in Munster now which is what I enjoy, and I think it's beneficial for all of us."
Off the pitch, ‘Prendy’ has had an even bigger influence on Nash.
"What I really like about Mike is, obviously he's a coach first, but he is one of the lads as well. And just having a personal relationship with him is great," he says.
"I feel like, potentially, that might have let me down with older coaches that I didn't really form much of a personal relationship with them and I feel like communication, obviously, is massive between players and coaches. And that's something that comes really easy to Prendy as well. So yeah, I find him a great coach but also a great lad as well."
While Nash made his debut for Ireland last summer in their World Cup warm-up win against Italy, his real introduction to Test rugby came in February when he earned a first start and first Six Nations appearance in the opener away to France.
After scoring a try in Marseille, he followed it up with a second against Italy a week later, and put in another impressive performance in the most recent win over Wales, setting up James Lowe to score Ireland’s second try.
"To be honest, I wanted to score the try myself but then I was like, ‘I’m going to be murdered if I don’t give this to Lowey’, but obviously it was the right thing to do," he laughs.
This evening, he’ll earn his fifth cap and fourth consecutive start on what will be his first time visiting - not to mention playing at - Twickenham.
Along with Jack Crowley, Joe McCarthy and Ciarán Frawley, his transition to the matchday squad has been seamless. Unsurprisingly, all four have been drip-fed into international rugby, with Nash steadily progressing from Emerging Ireland to Ireland A before being included in the wider senior squad in late 2022.
"It feels like… I’m not going to say starting for Ireland feels like the norm but being up in camp feels like the norm. Every week is obviously different, but yeah, enjoying it, so I don’t want it to stop.
"I think obviously being in previous camps has helped me massively. I wouldn’t be where I am without the coaches all getting around me and trying to get me up to speed as much as I can."
Not for the first time, his patience has paid off.
