The IRFU's gnomic pronouncement that Paddy Jackson will miss out on the trip to Chicago for "personal reasons" means that Joey Carbery will make his debut from the bench next week.
His call-up is just the type of thing that excites those who used to bitch about Declan Kidney from dawn to dusk during the painful final two years of his reign.
Carbery, who turns 21 tomorrow, was born and grew up in New Zealand. He lived there until he was 12, after which he moved to his mother's hometown in Athy.
He currently talks with a striking New Zealand-Irish hybrid accent, tilting slightly more towards the New Zealand side of things. Rhys Ruddock is another in the Leinster squad who possesses a hybrid accent, though obviously his non-Irish side is Welsh rather than Kiwi.
Carbery, unsurprisingly, names Dan Carter as his hero (not exactly a novel choice) and now could find himself on the pitch against the land of his birth.
As if his New Zealand birth didn't give him enough a head start, Carbery attended Blackrock College at secondary level. (He only transferred to the Schools Cup aristocrats for Leaving Cert year. His earlier schooling was in Athy.)
He played at full back on the 2014 Schools Cup winning team as Blackrock won their 68th and most recent title. Not winning in either 2015 or 2016 probably constitutes a kind of mini-famine for the 'Rock.
The Irish Times wrote the the time that the team was almost on a par with the 1996 Dream Team, the Schools Cup side that produced five Irish internationals - Leo Cullen, Bob Casey, David Quinlan, Ciaran Scally and Brian O'Driscoll (sub).
An now two years after the latest Blackrock success, one of the stars could see action against the All Blacks in a full international.
Even taking 2016 alone, Carbery's rise has been meteoric. At the end of May, Carbery was named Man of the Match in the AIL final as Clontarf defeated Cork Constitution in the AIL Final.
His graceful running and ability to pick the right moment to release the ball marked him out from the competition.
After the win, the Clontarf coach Andy Wood said they were resigned to losing him to the provincial game, saying that he was "very, very special player." His performance in the final was dubbed "pretty spectacular."
A week after the final, he had to collect a bauble off Joe Schmidt, the Ulster Bank League Rising Star award.
Excitement has only increased after his early season form for Leinster this year.
On his debut against Treviso, he scored two tries, the second of which came after he ran 70 metres to score in the corner.
Since the win in Edinburgh, he has featured primarily as a back up to the returned Johnny Sexton, though he did play the full 80 in Leinster's victory over Castres and also played a full half against Montpellier.
His Castres performance excited youtubers.
The stats from the game were quite striking. Conor O'Leary noted that Carbery passed the ball 16 times from 52 possessions (31%). This was contrated against Johnny Sexton's display in Leinster's win over Munster the previous week. Sexton ran the ball 5 times from 29 possessions (17%). While doubting whether Carbery was ready for an international call-up yet, O'Leary called attention to his exciting range of skills.
He's elusive, he's imaginative. He seems to squeeze past spaces you didn't realise were there. He rivals Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw with his pace and skill with ball in hand.
