The product of the Munster Academy wasn't mapped in Heineken Cup terms before this season, yet started in Munster's three opening games this term, scoring a try against Castres in Toulouse, missed the fourth after sustaining a cracked jaw against Scarlets in Llanelli and returned for to play a significant Munster's  win over Castres Olympique and Northampton Saints

Nine of his starts this season have been at number six, twice he's anchored the Munster scrum and in his second outing from the start in the number 7 shirt he produced a massively impressive performance, along with the equally impressive Donncha Ryan and James Coughlan, in Munster's dismissal of Northampton Saints a fortnight ago.

Just 11 Munster caps to his credit going into this season, now the former Ireland Under 20 captain is on the cusp of his first senior international cap.

Ireland: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Gordon D'Arcy (Lansdowne/Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ballymena/Ulster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster), Mike Ross (Clontarf/Leinster); Donncha O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Paul O'Connell (Young Munster/Munster); Stephen Ferris (Dungannon/Ulster), Sean O'Brien (Clontarf/Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Naas/Leinster). Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Tom Court (Malone/Ulster), Donnacha Ryan (Shannon/Munster), Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Eoin Reddan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution/Munster), Fergus McFadden (Old Belvedere/Leinster).