Jamison Gibson-Park cracks a snigger at the first mention of Antoine Dupont.
The Ireland scrum-half had figured it would take just two questions before he would be asked about his opposite number on the French side ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Paris. That was an underestimation.
It was the four questions in before the Ireland scrum-half was asked about anything or anyone other than Dupont, and it’s no surprise.
Possibly the best player in the world, possibly the greatest of all time, the France captain is the beating heart of Fabien Galthie’s side, and they looked a shadow of themselves during his lengthy absence with a knee injury.
The 29-year-old tore his ACL in last year’s defeat of Ireland at Aviva Stadium, returning to action with Toulouse at the end of November, and looks back to his devastating best just in time to welcome Ireland to Paris.
Through big Champions Cup games with Leinster, and Six Nations outings with Ireland, Gibson-Park has lined out opposite Dupont on multiple occasions over the years, with plenty of wins but also plenty of defeats.
With that in mind, there is no better man to ask about what goes into preparing to take on a scrum-half capable of things no other number nine can do
"A whole bunch," Gibson-Park bluntly replied.
"Quite a lot of prep goes into stopping them.
"I think we all know the threat he poses. We’d have seen a lot of stuff in the last number of years of him doing stuff that not many others are capable of.
"There's also the coaches as well. They put a bit of time into him as well. But yeah, it's just a little bit different."
Earlier this week, Ireland’s defence coach Simon Easterby said the challenge of stopping Dupont is one that excites him rather than cause sleepless nights.
And the Irish scrum-half believes going up against the best in the world brings out the best in himself.
"I'd like to think so, yeah. I've had some pretty good duels with him down the years, certainly at club level. But yeah, he certainly poses a pretty serious threat for sure."
While Ireland will need to make a plan for Dupont, Fabien Galthie will also need to have his defence primed for what Gibson-Park (above) brings to the table.
Easterby described Dupont as the "heartbeat" of the French attack, and the same could be said of Ireland's number nine, whose running threat and kicking game are heavily relied upon.
The 33-year-old was one of 17 Irish players on Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions tour, and like several others believes he’s getting back to full sharpness after a tough start to the season.
"It's been great to get a run of games," he said.
"I can't really remember the last time I started four games for Leinster in a row. It doesn't happen that often, so it's good to get a run of games and then come in here and connect up with the lads.
"I suppose a lot of it is getting reps under the belt. You could probably argue in November that we were underdone, and there's all sorts of different arguments.
"But there's no excuses now. It's Six Nations."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and email us at sportpodcasts@rte.ie
Follow a live blog on France v Ireland in the Six Nations on Thursday from 8.10pm. Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
