Gerry Thornleyon how the now 33-year-old secondrow is feeling fresh and remains a primary source of possession.

For Leinster's Irish contingent, Sunday's head-to-head with Toulouse marks a swift return to France seven weeks after the profound disappointment of the Coupe du Monde. But for Malcolm O'Kelly, one of the Leinster quintet concerned, they have been quick to put that behind them. If some players want to use that as motivation, that's cool by him, if not for him.

What turns the ultra-laid-back O'Kelly into the ultra-competitive player he is has always been a minor mystery even to some team-mates. But one thing has remained constant. The bigger the occasion, generally, the more he rises to it.

There's no mystery for him as to why Toulouse have won more French Championships than any other club and more Heineken European Cups. "They've a lot of talented players; that's probably the main thing," he reasons matter-of-factly. "They play with a lot of ambition and they throw the ball around. A lot of teams go over there and get caught in the headlights. We need to try and quieten them down and disrupt them, just be in their faces for as long as we can, just stick with them and see if there's any doubt in there."

Recalling the Leicester Tigers' "one-off rugby" last time out and just two line breaks in the RDS, O'Kelly envisages: "We're probably going to have to do a lot more scrambling against these guys. Some of their finishers are of the highest quality in the game, so we're going to need a lot of luck and our game at its top form."

Now 33, his current contract expires at the end of this season but, in so much as one can detect, the fires seem to burn within as much as ever. He seems in good nick, and why not? After starting the opening World Cup warm-up game against Scotland, thereafter O'Kelly didn't start a game for 10 weeks. He was confined to bench duty against Bayonne and in all four pool games in France; the latter four for the sum total of 34 minutes.

Given the strangely subdued form of Donncha O'Callaghan, amongst many others, O'Kelly's form since has only made his case for a start or two more compelling, especially as physically, he's less suited to being an end-game replacement. It would have broken lesser men.

However, it helped that O'Kelly had so much experience under his belt, such as the first of his two Lions tours, when he had been a relatively unused and frustrated 27-year-old.

"To be honest with you, I went over in the knowledge I wasn't going to be starting. I always had the hope I would get a start at some stage. I've been in Lions squad where you've had to just wait; I've had to deal with frustration before. It's not something new for me and I knew the best way to deal with it, just to live in hope and be a positive influence on the squad and not let negativity in."

With every dark cloud and all that, O'Kelly reckons the Ireland players have returned "with a lot more desire". He himself has returned relatively fresh, injury-free and with a good pre-season behind him. Starting the last three unbeaten games, he looks in very good form, remaining the team's primary source of possession and working effectively around the pitch.

"Battered and bruised now, I'm not going to lie to you," says the 33-year-old, smiling. "But yeah, I feel great. I've had a nightmare couple of years with injuries, it's just been from one injury to the next injury. I feel fresh now, I'm going well, I'm feeling good. It's just doing something I love now, so I'm going to keep on doing it."

Ireland's most-capped player, O'Kelly has also been Leinster's primary ball-winner for most of the last dozen years too, and on Sunday overtakes Victor Costello as the province's third most-capped player in the European Cup.

Curiously, given the calibre of Jamie Heaslip and Keith Gleeson, he was the only Leinster forward at the World Cup, and hence had to work his way back into a fairly settled if significantly changed unit. The scrum, he says, has improved with the addition of Stephen Knoop and Ollie le Roux, while Heaslip has, according to O'Kelly, vented his frustration at not being involved in the World Cup by coming on another level.

That motivation, coupled with the arrival of Shane Jennings, has inspired Gleeson to up his performances as well, while O'Kelly has been struck by the way the prodigal Jennings and Leo Cullen have matured in terms of their leadership. "Leo has taken on the role of calling the lineouts whereas when he left (two years ago) he wasn't. He's doing great and Shane Jennings is very vocal, and has no problem saying his bit in the team meetings, so that kind of input is great."

Leaving O'Kelly to get on with what he does best. And few still do it better.