Ciarán Frawley is having a moment right now. The Leinster man is the name on every Irish fan's lips as he scored the winning drop goal to beat the back-to-back World Champion Springboks in their own backyard.
Frawley has had as conventional a life in professional rugby it's fair to say since making his Leinster debut in 2018. While it's obvious that the Skerries man is immensely talented he is yet to lock down a position for either Leinster or Ireland.
He's excelled in centre and fullback but its in the 10 jersey where many see his future being in, despite only having a dozen starts at fly-half for Leinster across the past 6 years.
However when he came on last week for Jack Crowley he marshalled the Irish comeback in Durban. He's clearly shown Andy Farrell enough to play at fly-half in the biggest moments for Ireland but he hasn't had the same luxury at club level.
With Leinster going through a third consecutive season without a trophy, many are calling for Leo Cullen to change things up, including his former teammate Shane Horgan.
In a piece for the Sunday Times Horgan wrote about how Ciarán Frawley has surely proven enough now to be the first choice 10 at Leinster.
Frawley has to be viewed in another way entirely - in a way that some of us have been viewing for a long time. He's an exceptional footballer with a very high ceiling of performance and with the character to match.
I'm not calling for him to take Crowley's place tomorrow, he remains very much the incumbent but competition will be good for him, and Ireland. Ut has surely settled who shoudl be Leinster's starting No10 - the debate and the rotation has to stop.
We already lost a couple of years where Leinster and Ireland could have been getting more out of Frawley. He's 26 and traditionally that's when you're in your absolute prime.
The responsibility on Leinster is to pick him. This might raise and issue with squad management but it's not a hard choice - he clearly ought to start.
It was clear last season that Frawley wasn't really seen as a fly-half option for Leinster. The two Byrne brothers Ross and Harry were the number one and two option respectfully an dthen towards the end of the season Sam Prendergast picked up a couple of run outs before Frawley.
Being a utility player is very beneficial to a squad but like Horgan said, at 26 it's time for Ciarán Frawley to nail down a position at Leinster and on current form he should be the first-choice fly-half.
With Leinster probably needing to shake things up as well if they want to get over this Champions Cup hoodoo, starting Frawley at 10 could be the answer.
