Craig Casey put his back into his first Six Nations start - after almost putting it out at the start of game week.
Now he wants to show he's got the spine to stay in Ireland's Grand Slam chasing squad as he does selection battle with Conor Murray and fit-again Jamison Gibson-Park.
On the back of strong cameos against Wales and France, Casey and his half-back partner Ross Byrne were given the chance to run the week building into Saturday's five try victory over Italy.
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It was a far from perfect performance, both in terms of how the pair performed and the overall team display.
Also needing to adjust to Stuart McCloskey and Bundee Aki's novice centre partnership, Ireland produced an exhilarating show in attack in the first half, scoring four tries and leaving two more behind in that opening period.
Perhaps to be expected in a team with seven changes and missing leaders such as Johnny Sexton and Garry Ringrose, carelessness and indiscipline crept in.
It took until the 72nd minute for Ireland to kill off Italy's challenge through Mack Hansen's try.
"Our defence is something that we have prided ourselves on and worked on massively in the last two weeks, and it probably let us down," Casey reflected.
"We probably should have scored six tries in the first half but look, happy to get the win.
"If we didn't throw that intercept we would have been leading comfortably at half-time.
"We knew what the Italians were going to bring - especially in Rome.
"The crowd was unbelievable, the Irish crowd was class as well and I definitely wasn't expecting that.
"To learn in a bearpit like this, the real pressure, pressure environment of Rome...to come out the other end after making things happen but also making mistakes and learning from it, yeah, it was good."
The Munster scrum-half revealed that he was close to missing out on a landmark occasion.
"Me and Ross were happy with how the week went," said the 23-year-old.
"We were happy with training, with mending mistakes on Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday.
"I was struggling a bit with my back all week but I was delighted to pull through in the end.
"It was a bit of a flare up to a disk. The physios did a lot of work on me.
"I only really found out I was starting for sure on Wednesday, but to get that session under the belt as a starter and give confidence to the lads, I think it went well."
It would have been a blow if he had to sit this one out.
He made his debut in Rome two years ago but Saturday's game was only his 10th cap and his second start in green.
It also would have been unfortunate for the Casey clan, who travelled in numbers to the Eternal City.
"Yeah, a good chunk came over, about 15 actually," he smiled.
"They said after the last time, no matter whether I was playing or not they were booking Rome because that's where I made my debut.
"There was a good few over, thank God and hopefully they enjoyed the game and the few days.'
Casey has got his opportunity to shine in this championship due to Gibson-Park's absence through injury - but also after recently earning his first Champions Cup start for his province at Murray's expense.
On Saturday, he switched places with Murray in the pecking order and experienced only a "tiny few more" nerves than usual.
Casey explained: "I haven't really got full nerves since Junior Cup in school, I've been combatting them well with the help of Gary Keegan.
"I was just anxious to get on the field and go.
"I've started big games for Munster so that experience worked well for me coming into this one.
"Coming into camp I wanted to be involved and to impact games a lot more than in the previous two years.
"Obviously it's a great place to be, but you don't want to be happy and sitting back being third choice. Definitely not.
"I'm very happy to get three big games under my belt and my first Six Nations start, and hopefully many more from here."
Byrne was out of the Test frame for 18 months before his November recall but Casey points out that they weren't meeting as strangers.
He had played alongside Byrne's younger brother Harry for Ireland's under-20s and he observed that the siblings go about their business in a similar fashion.
"I was only really starting to get to know Ross fully over the last few weeks, really," the Limerick man said.
"He's an excellent player, so calm and in fairness very demanding."
Such is the ruthless nature of pro sport that Casey could go from central involvement in this campaign to travelling to Murrayfield as cover for Gibson-Park and Murray.
He's up for the challenge of staying in the matchday squad.
"Yeah, 100% happy with how I'm playing," he declared.
"Playing games definitely makes things a lot easier. Playing on match day, it's a completely different buzz.
"Obviously Jamison is a class, class player, he's done unbelievably well for us over the last two years.
"But it's a good place to be, you want that competition. I definitely wouldn't want to be strolling into a matchday squad.
"I think the environment means everyone is on their toes and pushing - so hopefully I can push the two lads."
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