With 180 Leinster appearances to his name, and still only 29-years-old, Luke McGrath is one of the few players who could come close to breaking Devin Toner's record of 280 games for Leinster.
The scrum-half has long been one of the province's leaders, a regular stand-in as captain since he first skippered the side back in January 2016 at the age of just 22.
In a back-handed kind of way, his huge haul of Leinster appearances is probably a reflection of his international career, which has seen him fall well down the depth chart in the eyes of Andy Farrell.
Winning 19 caps under Joe Schmidt, the last of which came in the 2019 Rugby World Cup, McGrath was involved in the wider squad for the opening rounds of the 2020 Six Nations, but his only call-up since the Covid-19 pandemic came late in Ireland's Autumn Nations Series a year ago, drafted in as cover after an injury for his Leinster teammate Jamison Gibson Park.
In spite of his performances this season - three tries in five games - he continues to be on the outside looking in, with Connacht's Caolin Blade involved in the Ireland 'A' squad for next week's game against an All Black XV.
The Leinster nine hasn't given up hope of breaking back into the Test arena, though.
"You definitely get hopeful every time it comes around," he said, after winning Player of the Match in Leinster's 27-13 win against Munster on Saturday.
"I know the only way I'm going to get picked is if I play well with Leinster.
"I've just got to keep thinking that, even if I don't get picked this time around, you never know.
"I'll keep staying positive, I love playing for Leinster so that keeps it nice and easy when disappointment with Ireland comes around."
Donncha O'Callaghan, Jamie Heaslip and Darren Cave said Luke McGrath deserves another chance with Ireland
Fortunately, it seems the lines of communication, and feedback from the Irish coaches is still coming.
It's enough to keep the fire burning inside the experienced scrum-half.
"I've talked to Mike Catt a little bit, maybe not so recently, but I talked to Faz [Andy Farrell] a little bit during the summer and I was even in camp last November a little bit.
"So, yeah, I've just got to keep playing well, there's a few things I need to brush up on and who knows what will happen in the future," he added.
"There's a load of little things, but you've also got to know that it's so unbelievably competitive.
"The other lads are playing very well as well, someone has to miss out."
More performances like Saturday will go a long way towards getting back into the international picture.
McGrath scored his province's third try in the derby win, while his clever run also created space for Dan Sheehan to score early in the second half.
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Try-scoring machine Dan Sheehan with his sixth of the season to quickly as Leinster quickly retake the lead
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And his quick-tap penalty almost set them on their way to a try inside the opening minute, with the move eventually ending after Jason Jenkins was held up over the line.
"I was really pleased today, I thought I grew into the game - James Ryan was getting after me for not giving him the pass after the quick tap.
"There's still a lot to learn and keep improving, but I'm enjoying my rugby at the minute."
The bonus-point win sees Leinster extend their lead at the top of the URC table to seven points, although they've played a game more than second-place Ulster.
And McGrath says while they couldn't have asked for a better outcome on Saturday, they aren't thoroughly satisfied with the performance.
"We’re very pleased with the result, obviously getting the five points especially in the end as well, which is very pleasing."
"I’d have to watch it back now but it felt like we were on their line at least four or five times and just couldn’t, you know... knocking the ball on. We probably got a bit of white-line fever as well, got held up twice I think as well?
"It just changes the momentum. That’s credit to Munster’s defence, they put us under a lot of pressure there. We just spoke at half-time about not getting frustrated with one another. We knew we were creating opportunities and the second half we were much more clinical and that was pleasing. But going forward we’re going to need to be much better in the first half.
"It’s been a great block so far. We obviously have a tough game now finishing it off against Scarlets next week but we’ve definitely been growing into it. I think there’s still a lot of room for improvement which is great but yeah, so far so good."
