Last week, Ireland's head of athletic performance Aled Walters described Andrew Porter as a "unicorn", and it’s easy to see why.
As he sits down at a trestle table to speak to the media at the IRFU’s high performance centre this week, the loosehead prop cuts an unmistakable figure (see below), with the sleeves cut off his team-issue polo shirt amplifying his enormous, tattooed arms.
"It's just a bit of me, isn't it?" he replies, when asked about the fashion choice, before folding under questioning, and admitting he was the victim of an in-house forfeit.
Combine that with the mullet and moustache, and the 29-year-old has the look of a 1990s wrestling superstar.
As striking as the look is, Walters was describing Porter's ability last week when he said the Leinster prop was a one of a kind.
In an era where front row forwards rarely play more than 55 minutes at a time, Porter is regularly going beyond 70, and sometimes hitting 80.
Such is his importance to Leinster, the province have experimented this season by starting him on the bench before introducing him early in the first half, as a means to ensure he’s still on the pitch at the end. Last summer against the Springboks in South Africa, he dislocated a finger so badly it broke through the skin and required a surgical procedure after the game. And yet he still pitched up to start the second Test a week later in Durban.
Earlier this month, England and Leicester Tigers tighthead Dan Cole described the Ireland international as like being another back row in the Ireland pack, citing his work-rate and high tackle count week on week.
Porter, however, is keeping the head down.
"I suppose I’m just doing what’s asked of me, really," he says, ahead of this afternoon’s game against Wales.
"I've always wanted to be a player with a high work-ethic and work the best I can for my team-mates as well.
"It doesn’t feel like I’m doing a lot when I’m out there. It feels like I’m doing my job and doing my best for the team and that’s all I’m looking to do, really.
"I’m not looking pull a rabbit out of a hat, not looking to do anything shiny or spectacular. I’m just looking to give my best and do my job."
The high volume of minutes is nothing new for Porter, but in recent months he appears to have rounded out some of the edges to his game. The main area of improvement has come around discipline, where Ireland as a team struggled in 2024.
Porter gave away more penalties than any other player in last year's Six Nations, and topped Ireland’s penalty count in 2024, with his 14 penalties accounting for 12.6% of the team's total.
The caveat to that is his scrummaging, which has traditionally been a high-risk and high-reward style – the Irish and Leinster scrum ranks high for both penalties won and conceded.
He does appear to be taking a more conservative approach to that element of his game this year. Through the opening two matches of this Six Nations, Ireland’s scrum has been less aggressive, but no less functional, and Porter is yet to be singled out by a referee.
"We’re not reinventing the wheel or anything.
"I suppose it’s down to the work of our scrum coaches in both Leinster and Ireland and the pack we have as well. It’s easy to pinpoint one player in a scrum but it’s all eight, really. All of our pack have been working seamlessly in the last couple of weeks and we’ve built on our performances in November as well.
"It really seems like it’s clicking now, so all we’ll be looking to do is keep building on that and keep the discipline and the penalties to a minimum, I suppose, and paint good pictures for the referees.
"It’s down not just to me but all the players around me, who we’re training against, and the back five, who have been working incredibly well this campaign especially."
Currently the leading contender to start at looshead for the British and Irish Lions in Australia this summer, Porter (above) had been selected in Warren Gatland’s squad four years ago when he was still playing tighthead, only to miss out on the tour of South Africa due to a foot injury.
And while the versatile prop admits that disappointment from 2021 does still drive him, he won't allow his Lions thoughts sidetrack him from the here and now.
"I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it, or that it wasn’t in the back of my mind but I’m not letting it distract me.
"I’ve got so much going on currently, both in my personal life with my wife pregnant at home and then everything going on here so I’ve plenty on my plate to keep me busy in the meantime.
"It’s something that burns away in the back of my mind – missing out four years ago, due to injury. It’s somewhere I definitely want to be but obviously I have to put in the performances to get there and that’s what I’m trying to do at the moment," he adds.
