For JJ Hanrahan, this pre-season has been an episode of 'This is your Life’.
Back for his third stint at his native province, the summer has taken him home in more ways than one.
When Munster’s pre-season visit to Biarritz was cancelled due to the unavailability of the French club’s pitch, Clayton McMillan took the squad on a no-frills trip to Cashel, where they trained at Hanrahan’s former school, Rockwell College, and slept in the dorm rooms where the out-half laid his head as a teenager.
Next week, there’s another road trip on the cards, Castleisland RFC, the club where the Kerryman first fell in love with the game.
"It's quite unique for this pre-season," the 33-year-old says, ahead of this evening’s pre-season friendly with Bath in Cork.
"It was amazing getting back there [to Rockwell College], where I suppose rugby really kicked off for me.
"I was only a young fella coming from Kerry and training with my local club, Castleisland, to go on to training five days a week of rugby, that was amazing to get back there and stay in the dorms.
"Not all the lads maybe enjoyed it as much as I did, but it was good to get back."
Hanrahan has taken the road less travelled in his rugby career.
Having come through the ranks at Munster, he made a surprise move to Northampton Saints in 2015 at the age of 23, but returned to his home province two years later.
His second spell at the province lasted four seasons where he played 78 games, vying for time with Joey Carbery, but with Jack Crowley and Ben Healy also arriving on the scene by 2021, he moved to France with Clermont Auvergne for a season, followed by one in Wales with the Dragons.
While he initially agreed a long-term deal in Wales, he was granted early release when Connacht came calling in 2023.
An ACL injury disrupted his two seasons at the Dexcom Stadium, but his performances impressed to the extent that Munster made a move to bring him back, needing an experienced 10 to supplement Crowley.
"I loved my time in Galway, and I think Galway definitely has a place in my heart forever more," he added.
"But look, the bottom line was I was still based in Limerick, I was doing a lot of commuting.
"When the opportunity comes to play for your home province... I think I said something recently, if someone asked you to put on an Irish jersey, what would you say?
"It's the same feeling for me in terms of wearing the red jersey.
"Some people think I'm mad, but I love the place, I love Munster.
"Even when I was playing against them, it was weird. I was still a fan.
"You still wanted to beat them when I was away, but there's nothing better for me than playing for Munster."
A lot has changed in the four years he has been away. Graham Rowntree has been and gone, delivering a URC title along the way.
The out-half picture has also changed considerably.
Carbery left for Bordeaux a year ago, Healy moved to Edinburgh the previous summer, while Crowley is now the undisputed first choice 10 at Thomond Park.
Crowley was just a rookie during Hanrahan’s final season in 2020/21, playing three times off the bench.
"I said it from early days, I remember one or two people were asking me, 'What do you make of Jack?’
"I was like, ‘I think he's the next Irish out-half. I said it back then. I think he's an incredible talent, and he's in a good battle in that Irish jersey at the moment.
"I can see him definitely progressing and pushing on.
"I think he's a really, really good player in terms of his physicality in defence, number one. His understanding of the game.
"He has a good athletic profile. He's able to carry. He's able to pass, able to kick. So, yeah, he's very impressive.
"It's funny because obviously, walking into this building, I felt very comfortable and I knew the building so well, but at the same time I was introducing myself to an awful lot of people because there was a lot of new staff and a lot of new younger players coming through who I'd obviously know from watching them, but you don't have a relationship with them," added Hanrahan, who is currently third on Munster’s all-time points list with 743 in 142 appearances.
Munster have changed in the last four years, and so has Hanrahan, who became a father earlier this year when his daughter, Maëlle, was born.
He said: "It feels like every stint I've had has been different.
"I think I've learned loads about myself. You look back and you're like, 'Oh, if I did this or I did that'. You can't. You just learn loads about yourself.
"You realise that you don't have the comforts of home when you go away, and it is just you, and how you react to things, and how you deal with pressures in different places and learn different languages, and try and speak to French internationals, things like that.
"You pick up and you develop as you go along.
"I think coming back, you try and bring all those experiences with you. I don't think you think about it too much, but maybe it just happens. It comes out, hopefully."
At times in his career, Hanrahan admits he could have "been more patient" in waiting for opportunities to fall his way, but those are passing thoughts and ‘what ifs’, rather than actual regrets.
"I've actually never gone through it too much with a fine tooth comb.
"But then, in saying that, I wouldn't have met the people I've met. I wouldn't have found out about the things I found out about myself, potentially, if I had that patience.
"So it's hard to know. It really is hard to know. All I know is I'm here where I am now and I have all the knowledge I have, that I've learned through good and bad.
"I probably wanted things. You can want it too much, do you know what I mean? You become a little bit too desperate for things.
"It's that old analogy, you hold a piece of jelly in your hand, squeeze too much, it's going to come out.
"For me, I love playing rugby and I love playing rugby for Munster.
"If I can put and express that on the field through the way I want to play the game and the framework that would be the best thing for JJ Hanrahan, the best for Munster and hopefully it can snowball from there.
"That's what I want."
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