Denis Hickie has urged the Irish fans to forget about a potential Six Nations showdown with England and first concentrate on beating Scotland on Saturday.
Wins in the opening Six Nations matches against Italy and France earlier this year have buoyed expectations among supporters and that heightened sense of belief has led some to casually look at the games with Scotland and Wales as merely a prelude to the Lansdowne Road decider with the English on October 20th.
But those two wins were seven months ago and as the Ireland team prepare to take on the Scots at Murrayfield in a game delayed due to the foot-and-mouth crisis, Leinster’s flying winger is keen to put things in perspective.
"I think people are getting ahead of themselves," Hickie said.
"The level of expectation is high because of the earlier performances but they really are in the past and I don't know how much they're going to stand for.
"We're just going to have to find out. I'm certainly worried enough about Scotland and taking that game seriously.
"I haven't even thought about the other games, I couldn't even tell you the dates.
"I'm just concentrating on facing Scotland. People might think we're just going to pick up where we left off eight or nine months ago when we last played a Six Nations game against France.
"But that just can't happen. It's going to be kind of hard to get back in the swing of things now after everything was put on hold.
The 25-year-old travels to Edinburgh in blistering form, having scored five tries in his last two outings with Leinster in the Celtic League, a competition the St Mary’s star believes has proved to be an ideal preparation for this crucial stage of the season.
"It has been helpful," Hickie said. "Our guys have been doing well and that's because they have been getting good quality games on a regular basis.
"That's made a big difference. Hopefully, when we get to play Scotland and the other internationals that form will be translated."
Meanwhile, Chris Paterson takes his place in the Scotland side admitting he must find some way of stopping an "awesome" Irish back line.
"It would be dangerous to single individuals out but you have to admit that Brian O'Driscoll is an incredible player," said the Edinburgh man.
"He is so elusive with the ball in hand and together with Geordan Murphy, Ireland have guys who can produce overwhelming moments of skill.
"Then you have Shane Horgan in there and Ronan O'Gara running the backs. It is an awesome backline."