Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan has welcomed the competition for his position following Michael Lowry's two-try salvo against Italy.
The Leinster back has made the shirt his own over the last two years, seeing off interested parties like Robbie Henshaw, Jacob Stockdale and Jordan Larmour, to become a firm favourite under Andy Farrell.
His run of 18 consecutive Tests came to an end against the Azzurri in round three of the Guinness Six Nations with Farrell handing in-form Ulster utility back Lowry a chance to shine.
Now the duo look to be fighting it out for the 15 jersey when Ireland take on England on Saturday at Twickenham (4.45pm, live on RTÉ).
"Mikey went great, didn’t he," Keenan said.
"He’s electric and he got to show that.
"He’s such a good guy, such a gent and he’s been playing great rugby for Ulster so in fairness, he deserved his shot and he took it.
"He got his two tries and you saw all the smiles on the faces how much it meant to him and to the whole team. It was great to get another lad another debut and it adds to the depth of the squad.
"If you look at any position there is always going to be competition, it’s a healthy thing to have.
"There are six or seven back-three in here and we are all champing at the bit, all of us trying to put our hand up and take that jersey. It’s great to have."
Keenan has played twice before in Twickenham, once at a Sevens tournament and in November 2020 in the Autumn Nations Cup defeat to England, which was played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus.
He’s been alerted to the fact that a full house at the home of English rugby is a completely different proposition.
"I've never experienced a full Six Nations with 80,000 at a game over there," said the 25-year-old.
"We were chatting about it during the week, the sort of atmosphere we'll come up against. But I'm sure there'll be loads of Irish over there, and that's what the lads have been saying, you can always see green and the lads were saying 20-25,000 get in there.
"[The lads have told me] if they get on the front foot, it can get loud, they can get into the game quick and that's one of the things you have to mentally prepare for.
"It was a challenge for us against France and maybe something we didn't do well enough so it's important that we focus on that.
"Ultimately it's all about is this week, we want to put our best performance out there, that we've given over the last three games and to improve from that Italy game and take the learnings in and hopefully that will be enough."
Johnny Sexton has signed one final contract extension with the IRFU, with the Ireland captain set to retire after the 2023 World Cup. pic.twitter.com/Zx7kqfCRdg
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