There were quite a few milestones reached when Ireland and Japan last went head-to-head.
It's just over four years to the day since Andy Farrell’s side routed the Brave Blossoms 60-5 at Aviva Stadium, the first game played in front of a full stadium after the Covid-19 restrictions eased.
Johnny Sexton scored a try on his 100th cap that afternoon, and the Ireland captain was famously presented with a commemorative sword for the occasion, a piece of memorabilia he still has to this day.
There was also a 50th cap for Tadhg Furlong at tighthead prop, while a future Ireland captain Dan Sheehan made his debut off the bench.
Andrew Porter was a well-established Test prop by that point. But in a way, that game was the first of his second career.
Having backed Furlong up at tighthead for the first five years of his international career, he was good enough to be picked on the British and Irish Lions tour a few months previous, only to miss out due to injury.
When he returned, he did so as a loosehead. The logic being why have Furlong or Porter on the pitch, when you can have both at the same time.
His Test career has now been evenly split between the two positions. Having earned his first 38 Ireland caps at tighthead, he’s played the same number at loosehead, with that trouncing of Japan (below) being his first in the number 1 jersey for Ireland.
It was a game – and month – where everything went right, not just for their new-look front row.
Ireland produced a clean sweep that November with wins against New Zealand and Argentina, and they rode that wave for the guts of three years.
"I remember it felt like everything kind of clicked that day and in that series as well, and that's what we're looking to do now," Porter says, as he looks back on that 2021 win.
"When Johnny [Sexton] scored in the corner, you remember the crowd, you remember the feeling of the Aviva erupting then.
"It was obviously incredibly special being back to crowds back then after such a crazy time with Covid and stuff."
Ireland caught lightning in a bottle that month, and as a squad they have been revisiting that time this week, as they look to find their spark again after a 2025 campaign that has seen them fall below their usual high standards.
"We were chatting about our performance then and we had New Zealand and Argentina in that same series [in 2021].
"I think they were probably right that it was kind of a bit of a springboard and probably a step in the right direction.
"We were looking back on that this morning and how can we basically get back to the way that feeling was, the cohesion there as well that we had in that Autumn Nations.
"You look back at games you've been a part of, and a lot of the lads in the team are still here. So you're looking at it and you're just like: 'We've done it before, we can do it again’.
"All you have to do is just look at your previous performances and take confidence from those."
While Porter was selected for the Lions in 2021 as a tighthead, a foot injury ruled him out, but he made up for lost time this summer when he was part of Andy Farrell’s squad that won the series in Australia, playing all three Tests and starting the final two.
And while that tour was dominated by Irish players and coaches, the Leinster prop believes he has gained a new perspective on the game after mixing with his English, Scottish and Welsh team-mates.
"Being part of any team, you're picking up pointers from people you're scrumming with, or scrumming against, in particular.
"You're scrumming against different tightheads in training. You're sitting around computers and laptops learning, I suppose, the way they see it, because it's such a subjective thing.
"Everyone has their own set-up, their own way of doing things. It's interesting seeing other people's minds and the way they do it, and the way they go about their process.
"It's a constant learning position in the front row, because you're always getting different things thrown at you."
Away from the game, 2025 has been a busy one for the 29-year-old.
He became a father for the first time in May of this year, while he has also released a book in the last month, his memoir Heart on My Sleeve detailing his mental health struggles as a teenager, following the death of his mother, Wendy, when he was just 12.
If you’re looking to discover the nuts and bolts about becoming a Test prop, the book won't be for you, but Porter has a more powerful story to tell.
"I didn't really want to touch on much rugby," he says of the book.
"I just wanted it to be a tell-all book. To be able to show what I went through to get me to where I am today.
"If that helps a few people, then I've done what I set out to do. That was to help people if they were going through things themselves. Big or small, it doesn't matter.
"I'm delighted and overwhelmed with the feedback I got off it.
"It's mad. Even in Chicago I had people coming up to me saying they had read it. It's quite humbling. The reach of it has gotten quite far.
"It's a nice feeling, being able to help people in that way that's away from rugby. That's what I set out to do when they brought the idea to me. I've done what I wanted to do with it."
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