Whenever Peter O'Mahony does decide to retire, games between Ireland and Scotland will be a lot poorer for it.
The 35-year-old is very much the old dog for the hard road when it comes to this fixture, and played his part in Ireland’s dominant recent record against the Scots including yesterday's 32-18 win at Murrayfield.
Having not started for Ireland since the first Test in South Africa last summer, the veteran flanker justified his role in the starting team yesterday.
His nine carries were the third highest among the Irish players, while he also came up with a trademark breakdown steal during his 52-minute showing.
His contribution goes beyond the stats though. Before and after the game on Sunday, head coach Simon Easterby and captain Caelan Doris both spoke of how he’s still the heartbeat of this side behind the scenes. For the spectators, he’s the panto villain that has kept this one-sided rivalry interesting.
When it comes to winding up Scotland, O’Mahony is Rafael Nadal on a clay court, and the booing that greeted his departure on 52 minutes illustrated that. Not that he noticed at the time.
"Someone said I got a fairly savage boo when I came off, which is potentially one of the biggest compliments of my career of 111 Test matches! So, thanks Murrayfield!" he told reporters at the stadium on Sunday evening, before doubling down with a similar post on social media.
"I don't know what it is. It's competitive, we've had the Glasgow thing [with Munster] for a long time.
"I didn't [hear it], but I'll take it!"
A number of short-term injuries have led to a stuttering season for O’Mahony, and that lack of gametime was the main reason offered by Easterby as to why he didn’t make the cut for the opening game against England at the start of the month.
The usually stoic Munster man was clearly delighted to be back in the side.
He said: "I loved it. Look, I'm like a broken record I'd say when I'm picked for Ireland, but I loved that, I have to say. Loved it.
"I thought we had a really good first half, first 10, 15 minutes. We spoke about our start and we spoke about it afterwards, we felt like we were all over them. So I enjoyed that, I have to say.
"Everyone who plays professional rugby in Ireland wants to play for Ireland. All the kids want to play for Ireland, even more so now because every time they turn on the TV, we're winning, you know?
"If you ask any of my generation who they followed it was all the teams that won, so everyone wants to play for Ireland. It's no different for me or my youngest fella or my middle fella, they all want to play for Ireland.
"So I'm delighted I got the chance to put on the jersey and put in a performance like that."
With two bonus-point wins from two games, Ireland are the only side still capable of winning a Grand Slam, which would ensure a third title in a row, something that has never been done in the men’s Six Nations.
Standing in their way are Wales, France and Italy, with the French coming to Dublin in just under four weeks in what looks like being the biggest hurdle to climb.
And while O’Mahony says the team are well aware of the history they can potentially create, they won’t allow it to creep into their preparations for their next outing away to the Welsh on 22 February.
"Of course we know what's at stake, but again, as I spoke about, you get ahead of things and something goes wrong," he added.
"I sense that this is a good group and if we put our minds to it, if we stay on top of the stuff that we talk about, we can put in some very, very good performances.
"We're tough to beat but you saw just before half-time, little lapses of concentration, we don't scrum quite right and miss the breakdown penalty, we kind of switch off defensively and that's international rugby, you've got to be all over it for 80 minutes.
"As soon as you switch off you're under pressure from teams like Scotland, Wales coming up, and [others] down the line.
"So you've got to be all over it for the majority of the game. Today we were, but there were windows that we allowed them in."
Watch highlights of all the weekend's Six Nations games on Against the Head, RTÉ2, RTÉ Player, 8pm, Monday
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