There's no doubt that Joey Carbery has had a memorable second half to 2016.
Bursting onto the scene to good effect for Leinster domestically and in Europe, the 21-year-old who was born in Auckland, New Zealand but has strong Athy, Kildare roots, took things a step further by being involved in Ireland's famous November Series wins over New Zealand in Chicago and against Australia.
Speaking to Brian O'Driscoll on Off The Ball, Carbery summed up a whirlwind few weeks.
"Joe called me up for a one day camp in October and he said 'we'll get you in for up and coming years so you can get used to the environment and stuff,'" he said.
"To be honest I didn't think I'd be in with a shout of being in the team or anything. So I got called into the next camp and then this was the Chicago week. Then he told me I was travelling and I was absolutely over the moon, called my Dad. He was stoked. He was like 'we've got to book a few flights now'. So it was an absolutely crazy time and then I had my 21st birthday on the Tuesday when we were over there, so that was pretty cool as well."
Pitched into action against the All-Blacks with plenty of time still to run on the clock, the fly half was unperturbed by the pressure of the occasion.
"I wasn't thinking about nerves, I wasn't thinking about anything," he said, adding that it helped that many match situations had been mapped out in practice which made it easier to slot in.
Carbery also spoke about his formative years in New Zealand before moving back to his mother's hometown of Athy with his family at the age of 11 with his family.
He also spoke about learning from Ireland's No 1 in his position Jonathan Sexton at provincial and international level, as well as the importance of playing in the All-Ireland League with Clontarf as a "learning curve" and experience prior to making the step up for Leinster.
In terms of his own style, he describes himself as a "running 10".
Injury of course is part and parcel of most careers and Carbery has recently suffered his own setback that will keep him out for a couple of months after injuring his ankle in the European Champions Cup win over Northampton last Friday.
"I hurt my ankle on Friday night so it's about eight weeks before I'm back on the pitch," he said, adding that he had felt a "pop" in his ankle at the time the injury occurred.
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