Andrew Porter's rise to prominence within the international set up has been equally as quick as it has been surprising.
In just over a year the Leinster man has gone from being a relatively unknown loosehead prop for his club to being the back-up tighthead for his country. While players have been known to make the move to the other side of the scrum, few have had such success within as short a time frame.
One man who wasn't shocked by his rise through the ranks is Leinster head coach Stuart Lancaster, who joined Off The Ball's Adrian Barry at the Aviva Fan Studio for the Ireland and Wales Six Nations clash.
"There's no doubt in my mind about Andrew Porter. Obviously it's a massive step up to come into an international game. Great to get 70 odd minutes in the previous game against Italy".
"He's powerful, he's strong, he's a good scrummager, he wants to play at tighthead, and his ability to get around the field and be a ballplayer is exceptional. I think he's a really, really exiting prospect".
High praise from the former England manager, who compared Porter's talent to the best tightheads he's ever coached.
"When I came to Leinster he was playing at loosehead, and having coached the likes of Dan Cole, Kyle Sinckler, and Kieran Brookes as the English tightheads I was, 'who's this kid?'. We all made the collective decision, Leinster and Ireland, that he should be looked at as a tighthead, and he's going to be some player. He's as good as any of the ones I've ever coached".
Porter played the majority of the game against Italy due to an early Tadhg Furlong injury, before started his first competitive game against Wales. Lancaster believes that while Furlong's injury may have been a cloud, the opportunity to blood Porter is a thick lining of silver.
"It's a short term pain for Ireland to loose Tadhg, but it's a brilliant, brilliant development opportunity for Andrew in the lead up to 2019".
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