It speaks volumes to the depth of back row talent at Leinster, that Scott Penny has never played a game of Champions Cup rugby for the province.
The 23-year-old flanker will make his 43rd appearance for the province this evening at the Aviva Stadium, with every one of those coming in the BKT United Rugby Championship.
Penny was just 19-year-old when he made his debut for the province back in November 2018, scoring a try in each of his first two appearances against the Ospreys and Dragons.
His transition to the professional game was seamless, and it's arguable that were he to have been in a red, green or white provincial shirt, he'd have been a regular on European matchdays.
He was set to make his Champions Cup debut last December against Montpellier, before the province's Covid-19 outbreak denied him the opportunity. His patience looks to be paying dividends though, impressing on the recent Emerging Ireland tour of South Africa, while earning a call-up to the Ireland 'A' squad for next month's meeting with an All Blacks XV in Dublin.
With Josh van der Flier carrying an injury, it's opened a spot in the back row for Penny, who starts alongside Max Deegan and Caelan Doris against Munster. And while he's started, and scored in this fixture before, it feels the spotlight is shining brighter on him this evening, in what looks to be a very strong Leinster line-up.
"Scott has been such a steady performer for us, missed out on some of the bigger days over the last couple of seasons. This is a great step up for him in this fixture," his head coach Leo Cullen said.
"Between him and Max [Deegan], they both went well in those Emerging Ireland games. The feedback was very positive on the two of them."
With a staggering 23 tries in just 42 games, only Dan Sheehan and James Lowe can compare to his strike-rate, the most recent of those tries coming in the last Leinster-Munster derby back in May.
And Cullen says his ability to read the game is one of the reasons he finds himself on the end of so many scores.
"He's a very clever player for starters, so gets himself in good positions, and '2s’ and ‘7s’ off the back of mauls can score a lot of tries, off the back of the platform that the forwards set.
"But even in terms of some of the pick-and-go work close to the line he’s a good low centre of gravity, and is very, very strong, Scott, so he scores a load of tries from close-range. So it would be nice if he gets a couple now tomorrow," Cullen added.
Penny is joined in the back row by Max Deegan at blindside flanker and Caelan Doris at number eight, with Munster's Gavin Coombes, John Hodnett and Jack O'Donoghue for opposition in what looks like being an excellent back row match-up.
And with both Doris and Deegan associated with number 8, Cullen says his selections are about finding a balancing act between the three.
"It's just a combination and Caelan is playing at 'eight', he likes being in the thick of the action.
"The 'six' role for us, Max is an excellent line-out jumper. When we talk about the six, quite often it’s that line-out role as a 'six'.
"Max is very effective in wider channels as well. Six is quite often holding the edge a little bit more for us. We think we’ve got a decent balance there, but again it’s relatively young in terms of six, seven and eight.
"It’s a good challenge, obviously Munster have a relatively young back row as well, I know Jack O’Donoghue is in there, he’s been around the block a bit more.
"Hodnett would have been on the tour with the two lads [Deegan and Penny]. They’ve a reasonably good understanding with each other I’m sure."
Leinster were boosted with confirmation that James Ryan overcame an injury scare to start, while Jack Conan is also set to feature off the bench having been a doubt. Conditions are also set to be favourable for good rugby in Dublin, with dry weather forecast, a change from Leinster's two other Interpro games this season against Ulster and Connacht.
"We are hoping that the conditions will allow it to be a bit more fluid. The Ulster game started off quite well and then the conditions were horrific from about 30 minutes in. I thought the roof of the stand was coming down on top of us with the rain and same again last week.
"They are due to be better tomorrow and if they are we are able to hopefully play the type of game we want to play but you have to be able to adapt to the day. That’s the beauty of the game, where conditions can be a real leveller on any given day."
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