Cool CJ Stander was a bundle of nerves before Ireland debut

His body may have been telling him otherwise but CJ Stander was ready to go again last Monday, desperate to be picked by Ireland for a second time, eager to prove he belongs in Test rugby.

The previous afternoon he had answered that question to the satisfaction of the thousands who endorsed Donal Lenihan’s judgement that the 25-year-old back rower had been the Six Nations man of the match in Ireland’s bruising draw with Wales.

His lung-bursting performance, with a team-leading 23 carries against an immensely physical side, belied his status as a Test debutant and suggested a player wonderfully adaptable to the rigours of high-intensity Six Nations rugby. What is more the Munster back row enjoyed every minute of it, so much so that had he been required to do the same again 24 hours later he would have dragged his aching body through a brick wall to do so.