Looking back on the last time Ireland played a Test match without Caelan Doris, a number of things jump out.
A knee injury keeps the Ireland captain out of Saturday's meeting with Wales in Cardiff, breaking his run of 42 consecutive internationals, 41 of which were starts.
The last time Ireland were without Doris was the final day of the 2021 Guinness Six Nations championship, the game most followers of Irish rugby believe was the day everything clicked for this team under Andy Farrell. Ireland stuffed England 32-18, finishing on a high after what had been an underwhelming campaign to that point.
To review that game is to look into a time capsule. CJ Stander started on the flank that evening to win his final Irish cap, having made a shock retirement announcement a few days earlier, at the age of 31.
Andrew Porter was still a tighthead prop back then. Understudy to Tadhg Furlong at the time, he would make the switch to loosehead that summer, and in the four years since he has arguably become Ireland’s most important player.
It was also the last time Ireland had a red card; Bundee Aki shown the line for a high tackle on Billy Vunipola, Ireland’s second of that championship. Since then, they have the best disciplinary record - in terms of cards - in tier one rugby.
The other curious thing about that that game was the Irish bench. Jamison Gibson-Park was an unused substitute, the only one, in a game that Ireland had been comfortably ahead in by the hour mark.
Four years on, the notion that Gibson-Park (above) would be left idle on the bench seems preposterous. The Leinster scrum-half turns 33-years-old on Sunday, the very definition of a late bloomer, having arrived in Ireland from New Zealand as a relative unknown in the summer of 2016.
Reflecting on that time, the 40-cap Ireland international believes his nine seasons in Ireland have changed his game considerably.
"The answer is certainly yes, but in what ways?" he replies, when asked whether he’s changed as a player in that time.
"I think, overall, my level of preparation has got a lot better, my understanding of the game - which has come over a good number of years - and working with some good coaches and some really good players as well."
The scrum-half laughs as he acknowledges the kicking game as the area he’s made his biggest gains in.
"It definitely has improved, it’s improved out of sight. I’ve a few people to thank for that.
"I couldn’t kick snow off a rope when I arrived. It’s been a slow kind of progression. I kick pretty much every day off in Leinster with our kicking coach Emmet Farrell and the other nines and tens as well, so it’s been a gradual progression and as you say an area of growth in my game.
"It certainly has become more of a thing [in New Zealand] now but not really when I was coming through."
Four years ago, Gibson-Park was a 29-year-old still taking the first steps of his Test rugby career. He started three games in the 2021 championship while Conor Murray was injured, but the jury was out on whether he was a long-term option.
Farrell obviously saw something in him though, and by the time the 2021 Autumn Nations Series rolled around, he was installed as Ireland’s first choice scrum-half, even if he was still behind Luke McGrath on Leinster’s depth chart.
"I wouldn’t say a massive amount changed. I just committed a bit more and started to prepare a bit better," he said.
"I’ve said it before but over that period I had the time to reflect and came back and just got stuck in really.
"Obviously, on the back of that I got a few opportunities and things started to go OK."
Now locked in as first-choice scrum-half for both province and country, Gibson-Park is also the leading contender for the No 9 jersey on this summer’s British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
The veteran showed his experience at Murrayfield two weeks ago, when he made a crucial tackle on Blair Kinghorn early in the second half. The Scotland full-back had been sent clear down the wing from a clever strike-play, but he was well tracked by Gibson-Park, who chased Kinghorn down to prevent a certain try.
And while he’s always had the pace, the New Zealand native says it’s a tackle he wouldn't have been mentally prepared for a few seasons ago.
"I probably could have been glued to the scrum, or something!
"I think it's just doing my role in this team and sometimes these things happen against good teams, you get cut and they're going to make breaks against you. But I think certainly in this team, the understanding is there that we can still cover it.
"It's just being part of this squad, you scramble to even lost causes.
"We're two from two, which we're pretty happy with, but I think there's still areas for growth as well and I'm sure you guys will be of the same opinion.
"There's certain areas of our game that can get better. Although you win games you still have to get a deep dive into the game and understand the areas you can get better in as well as doubling down on the stuff that you're doing well."
