Don't expect to see Garry Ringrose on the wing too often in the future, but in a World Cup year, his two-try shift out wide against the Sharks can be filed away under 'good to know'.
A run-out on the wing is rare enough for the Ireland international, but an appearance off the bench is even less frequent.
Saturday's appearance against the South Africans, in which he was a first half replacement for the injured Jordan Larmour, was his first time coming off the bench for the province in almost seven years, having worn the 13 shirt in each of his last 97 appearances for Leinster.
Back then, Ringrose was still in the province's academy, with the majority of his seven senior games at the time being out wide.
He might have needed a refresher course in both wing-play and playing from the bench, last week being just the seventh time in 149 appearances for both club and country that he's worn a sub's shirt.
"When you're '23' you sort of prepare for a number of positions you could be called upon (to cover), and someone like Jordo [Larmour], coming on for him, it’s pretty big boots to fill.
"So yeah, some good moments, but others were just me being in the right place at the right time off the back of good work from Johnny, a brilliant kick from Robbie as well.
"So happy with some parts and other parts, I’ll have to pick the brains of the wingers to see how I can be better if I’m there again."
A thriller at the RDS. After the visitors split Leinster open again, Garry Ringrose grabs his second try after a beautiful piece of skill from Robbie Henshaw. #LEIvSHA #BKTURC
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) October 8, 2022
HT: Leinster 21-20 Sharks
📺 Live on RTÉ2
💻 https://t.co/CStwnXf2cB
📱 https://t.co/vTeSwye8Ra pic.twitter.com/2HduJXqYCo
By his own admission, the main area to work on is in the finer detail of defence, having found himself caught in a huge overlap for the third Sharks try of the opening half.
"They [wingers] play a massive role in our defensive system, trying to be a step ahead and see what the opposition are going to do.
"When they scored in the near corner here, I think it was Ryan [Baird], Will [Connors] and Ross [Molony] that I had on the inside of me, and what I probably should have done better was cue them up to what was coming next, maybe a phase or two later, to then give us a bit more defensive width to be able to come off square, which unfortunately I didn't do, and then they were able to turn and score pretty easy in the corner.
"So, just little things like that, where I’ll have to have a conversation with the coaches and the other wingers to see how I can be better in those spots."
As one of the province's senior players, Ringrose has grown as one of Leinster's leaders in recent seasons, first captaining the province in the 2020 Pro14 final, while occasionally filling in for Johnny Sexton since then as skipper, most recently in this season's games against Benetton and Ulster.
Sexton made his first start of the season in the Round 4 win against the Sharks, scoring a try and six conversions for a personal tally of 19 points.
And Ringrose says his captain's ability to control Leinster's game remains his biggest quality as a leader.
"There's loads of different levels to his leadership, and he’s a pretty high bar to try chase in terms of the leadership standards.
"But what he does, without a doubt, is he leads by example in how he plays and how he commits to the plan in place, but then also how he individually leads in his own performance. So that’s probably the biggest thing that he does.
"But then he also draws on his experience and probably notices and makes decisions in the right time and the right areas of the park, which have a bigger impact on the team.
"He’s a great person for a few of us who are challenging the leadership role to learn off, and while he’s still here we’ll keep trying to learn off him as best we can."
After four wins from four, Leinster bring their 100% record to Galway on Friday night for a meeting with Connacht, who are fresh off the beck of their opening victory of the season against Munster.
And Ringrose is expecting Andy Friend's side to be back at their best after the morale-boosting win.
"The Sportsground is one of the toughest games to go in Ireland, in the URC. We had them in Europe last year, and were quite lucky to come out with a win in that first leg.
"It's one of the toughest places to go, and you need to be at your best if you want to beat them.
"They had a slower start to the season, but you can see them getting better and better with every game. It was evident in their win against Munster and how they managed to grind it out. Jack Carty said after the game they were probably operating at about 60%, so their ceiling is still a lot higher than the level they're at."
Watch Connacht v Leinster in the BKT United Rugby Championship on Friday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app.
