La Rochelle assistant coach Donnacha Ryan feels Irish rugby is in a "healthy place" as Ronan O'Gara's side prepare to pitch up at Aviva Stadium to take on familiar foes Leinster in the Investec Champions Cup.
Saturday's clash will be the sixth time the teams have faced off in five years and a real rivalry has been built up.
The first half of the season saw Leinster make a slow start although they have rebounded with wins in recent weeks, while all the Irish provinces have had their ups and downs in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
But former Munster and Ireland second row Ryan told RTÉ Radio 1's Inside Sport that things in his home nation seemed to be ticking along nicely with the Guinness Six Nations round the corner and with last summer's Ireland-heavy British and Irish Lions tour receding into the distance.
"I think it's in a very healthy place," he said.
"When you see the amount of players that are in the Lions tour, they're facts. That's a fantastic achievement and then to go down and win the series there, that's incredible.
"Again, from an Irish player point of view, they probably wouldn't be as accustomed to going as deep into a season of playing that volume of games - something I probably learned here with our guys.
"We go well into June (or) July playing games and then to go back into pre-season on 1 August. It's not to say that you're kind of rugby worn down but at the same time, rugby is a contact sport but you need a lot of emotion in behind it as well to be able to fire on all cylinders.
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder a bit as well, having a bit of a break is fine but as well when you're game after game after game, it can get quite tiring.
"And to be fair, Ireland, their system is incredible, the way they're able to rotate, give guys a break and something we'd love to do (at La Rochelle) ourselves.
"Our squad is smaller and our lads just have to pitch up as well even when they're that bit tired and stuff.
"But at the same time I think the Irish team, when you have a lot of changes in personnel, there's connections that aren't as fluid as previous ones are.
"And that just takes time bedding in and that's an exciting thing from a coach's point of view and players' point of view and supporters seeing fresh faces coming in."
Given how often La Rochelle have battled Leinster in Europe, Ryan added that the Top 14 side are under no illusions about how difficult Saturday will be, and he also pointed out that Ronan O'Gara's squad would be looking to overcome a tight turnaround between domestic challenges and the Champions Cup in the midst of the festive period.
"The training load, we haven't been able to get as much volume into the lads as we'd like," he said.
"We had a game against Toulon on Sunday, so obviously a six-day turnaround.
"Our game was finished at 11 o'clock on Sunday night so we're literally trying to get volume through the boys as much as we can, while at the same time making sure they're (doing) recovery and obviously trying to get injured boys back.
"We're used to gearing up every week with the big games in the Top 14 so this week we've had to adapt the week but to be fair to the boys yesterday, even in the cold, they were in good spirits."
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