Jamison Gibson-Park admits getting dropped for Ireland's game against Italy lit a fire under him.
The 33-year-old Leinster scrum-half has been a firm favourite of Andy Farrell since making his debut in 2020, and has won 48 caps and started all three British and Irish Lions Tests under the head coach last summer.
However, a poor outing in the Guinness Six Nations round-one loss to France saw him left out of the starting XV against the Azzurri in favour of Munster's Craig Casey.
"I'm a competitive guy and so these kinds of things happen and I go and try to find a bit of feedback and then go out and train and compete," he said.
"It's always been my mindset and I think it will remain the same until I'm done."
Casey was harshly yellow-carded for a high tackle in the first half as Ireland struggled against a lively Italian outfit, who held a 10-5 lead at the break.
Gibson-Park was introduced in the 51st minute and, alongside a raft of other replacements, helped Ireland get the converted try and penalty that was eventually enough to scrape over the line.
"I suppose I was happy [with my game]," said the New Zealand native.
"As a bench, we spoke about trying to bring a bit of energy to the game and I think for the most part we did that.
"Certainly areas we can still be better at, but that was kind of the main thing we wanted to add when coming on was lifting the boys, and giving a bit of energy and it felt as though we did that."
Gibson-Park is likely to come back into the starting team for Saturday's trip to face England in Twickenham and will come up against Northampton's dynamic back row Henry Pollock (below), who gets his first start for Steve Borthwick's side.
The 21-year-old has been a revelation for his club and in his cameos off the bench for England since bursting on to the scene in the 2023/24 season.
He scored a try as the Saints stunned Leinster in last season's Champions Cup semi-final and such was his form that Farrell took him on the Lions tour of Australia.
"He's unreal man, an unbelievable athlete, moves unbelievably well, seriously quick, great with the ball in hand," said Gibson-Park.
"He's a serious one to try and take away his strengths, exactly how you see online, so you guys probably know him as well as I do.
"He's a great young fella, full of energy, and we'll be looking forward to getting out there against them."
Pollock also impressed Ireland assistant coach Johnny Sexton, who also toured with the Lions in their 2-1 series win in Australia.
Johnny Sexton on Ireland's options at 10 and the social media trolls who 'marred' Edwin Edogbo's international debut pic.twitter.com/yAIOuQHWK2
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 17, 2026
"He's a great character," said Sexton. "I got on with very well with him on the Lions tour in a weird kind of way. He's an outstanding player, full of talent, full of energy, I think this is his first start, it’s different from the start.
"It can be tougher, the game is at a different pace [to] when he’s been coming on, but he’s been outstanding for Northampton for the last couple of years.
"I’m sure he’ll go well and we have to understand what threat he’ll bring and try and nullify it."
Both teams realistically need to win to keep their title hopes alive and, after spending the summer with huge swathe of England players who went on the Lions tour, Gibson-Park admitted that the dynamic with the group had changed.
"I think there's a little bit of mateship created between us, I suppose, and to me that adds to a rivalry," said former Blues and Hurricanes player Gibson-Park.
"Like when I think about interpros in Ireland, like they're some of my favourite games to play because you know the lads, and it's like a brotherly kind of rivalry.
"We played with these guys for two months during the summer and got to know them pretty well, some great fellas, so to me that adds to the challenge and to the rivalry, and I love that kind of stuff.
"So it's gonna be hard, but I look forward to it."
Watch England v Ireland in the Six Nations on Saturday from 1pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch France v Italy in the Six Nations on Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
