It's less than two years since Tom Farrell got the news that his time at Connacht was up.
At that stage, winning an international cap would have been the furthest thing from his mind.
On Saturday, the Munster centre will wear a different shade of green for the very first time, starting at outside centre for Ireland in their Quilter Nations Series meeting with Japan.
It’s a long overdue first cap for the veteran centre, who was Munster’s Player of the Year last season, and at 32-years-of age, he’ll be the oldest Ireland debutant in 10 years, since Nathan White earned his first cap in 2015, a few weeks shy of his 34th birthday.
"He's at the ripe old age of 32 but playing his best rugby and 100% deserves a shot," head coach Andy Farrell said of his namesake.
"Not just for the form that he's shown over the last couple of seasons, but also how he's applied himself when he's come into camp. So, that's been very impressive.
"I mentioned it to the squad yesterday and it was fantastic for me to do so [select him], to stand him up in front of his peers and tell them the story.
"Six years ago now, Tom, I was obviously an assistant coach under Joe [Schmidt] and we brought him in for training camp and he never got selected. And six years later, here we are."
It’s the high-point of a rollercoaster career for the Dublin native (above), who made his name in the English Championship with Bedford Blues before securing a move to Connacht in 2017.
His form for the province saw Joe Schmidt have a look at him in 2018, while he included him in the 2019 Six Nations squad, before injury ruled him out, and he continued to be troubled by injury problems for the next couple of years.
It came as a major surprise that he was to be released from Connacht at the end of the 2023/24 season, having been a regular presence in Pete Wilkins’ squad, and it would ultimately be the sliding doors moment that changed his career.
As he was being cast aside in Galway, Munster were in dire need of a centre after Antoine Frisch cut his own contract short to return to France.
He proved to be Munster’s signing of the season last year, scoring 10 tries in 25 games, and while he wasn’t even initially selected for this Ireland squad, injury scares for Robbie Henshaw and Bundee Aki saw him drafted in as cover.
"The word resilience doesn't probably do it justice," the Ireland head coach (below) added.
"He's kept on fighting and fighting and fighting and he gets to make his dream come true, which is play for Ireland in his debut on Saturday.
"I suppose he's been pretty unfortunate in the sense that there's always been four centres who are pretty good who have been keeping him out.
"But his form has always been at the forefront of our mind and how he started the season.
"We had a contact-type session on Saturday - because of the lack of contact that we've probably had at this stage of the season - in Chicago and that's when he's at his best.
"He's a lot stronger than what you think, he breaks the line, he runs good lines etc. And it's those type of sessions where you see his class come through.
"He's done very well. I would say the difference in experience counts a lot because how he's come in this time round and hit the ground running has been completely different to how he would have handled it six years ago.
"It would have been a little bit daunting, I would have thought. His confidence has come on because of his form and he thoroughly deserves his chance."
The debutant is one of eight changes to the Ireland side that were defeated 26-13 by New Zealand last weekend, with some of those changes down to rotation, and others through injury.
Andy Farrell confirmed that Stuart McCloskey wasn’t risked as he dealt with a groin issue, while Ringrose – who Tom Farrell replaces – picked up a hamstring injury this week.
Munster forward Tom Ahern is following the return to play protocols following a concussion suffered in training.
Among the changes, Jacob Stockdale (above) comes in on the left wing for James Lowe.
The Ulsterman has endured a luckless run with Ireland, departing early with injury in each of his last two caps, when he had been performing well on each occasion.
And while his journey hasn’t taken as many dramatic turns as this week’s debutant, Andy Farrell says it’s had plenty of bumps in the road.
"Not quite similar to Tom [Farrell], I know that, but it is similar in some ways because there is a determined look on Jacob's face, his attitude," the Ireland coach said.
"He's been in and around the group, he seems to have matured again tremendously, seems to have had a word with himself.
"I think he's stripped things back and got down to what he's good at.
"He's been a handful and he's shown his point of difference and that's beating people and scoring tries.
"I'm sure that he's been waiting for this chance to try and prove a point and he gets that on Saturday."
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