Munster winger Andrew Conway is hoping to return to action towards the end of next month after recovering from the knee injury which forced him to miss the Irish tour to New Zealand.
And while Conway would have loved to be part of that historic Irish tour, he has had enough setbacks over the years to know that looking forward is the only option and not lamenting on missed opportunities.
The 31-year-old, whose next Munster appearance will be his 150th, said that while he was thrilled to see the Irish wins, of course he regretted missing out. But it’s not the first time he has had to watch from afar a game he could be featuring in.
“I’ve had tougher ones,” he said when asked how difficult it was to watch from the couch. “Yeah, it is, of course it is, it’s not the most pleasant viewing in the world at times, you’re just conflicted, it’s a bizarre feeling.
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“It’s one of the worst parts about professional sports, particularly because it’s a team game. But in saying that I think I’ve matured a lot over the last number of years where you kind of realise it doesn’t mean that lads ... I know you’re not physically there but you’re massively part of the team and there is a feeling of that as well, and you throw in a little baby as well, you do see life a bit different.
“It was unbelievable to see and I remember chatting to Tadhg Beirne after the first Test and I was kind of taken aback by how confident they were.
“I watched the first Test and New Zealand were good but they got a few gimme tries that they tend to do anyway, but I was just a bit taken aback by Tadhg saying how confident the group was.
“It was just a bit more unusual than I was expecting, and then they went out and they were spot on, the messages Faz [Andy Farrell] was giving them, by all accounts, was spot on, ‘this is here to be won’.
“And you obviously throw in the first loss, the Maori one, and it was a special, special few weeks to be involved, to be an Irish rugby fan and an Irish rugby player, to go down there and do that.
“Obviously New Zealand aren’t going that great at the moment but it’s still no joke to go down there and do that.
“Beat them once, fair enough, beat them the second time is the really tough task and they did that pretty well.”
Conway, capped 30 times, knows the first priority is to get back for Munster and he said the new coaching team under Graham Rowntree has bedded in well.
“You get what you see with him, I think, he’s not going to bluff you, he’s not going to butter you up, he’s not going to tell you something to make you feel better.
“He’ll tell you how it is in a way that is authentic to him and those northern English old school rugby boys have a very good way of doing it, similar to Faz, where they can balance the toughness and the fun and get it across to you right.”
He said that Rowntree has changed little since taking the top job and that the free-spirited character of the former English international has led to a happy camp over the summer.
“In fairness Wig [Rowntree] is hilarious, he has an incredible ability to take the piss out of people which you almost think whenever someone’s going into the main job, is he going to keep that, and he has essentially doubled down on that!
“So, in every meeting someone’s getting done for something they’ve done online or something they’ve done in training, he’s just got something lined up and it’s part of his style, to get us enjoying it and laughing.
“There have been a few funny ones and that’s great to see, and that’s part of it as well because once we start the competitive meetings, there are going to be ups and downs. And to try to keep that consistency of lads enjoying it and feeling comfortable within the environment, I think that’s really important, win or lose at the weekend.”
Conway’s recovery has progressed well in recent weeks and the next step is to get a date to get out and make his 150th appearance for Munster.
“Sometime in October, something towards the back end of October is what we’re looking at,” he added.
