Ashton Hewitt has spent much of the past few months standing up to be counted, weaving in and out of social media spats and doing down the trolls who have been baiting him for daring to speak out about something he believes in.
On Friday evening on a rugby field in Dublin, he simply stood out.
Well, stood out in a Dragons side that in many other respects came up short against Leinster.
On the day of the game at the RDS Hewitt had once again been in the news with some powerful writing on the Guinness PRO14’s official website, telling of the racism he had experienced, his views on the Black Lives Matter movement and how he had been heartened by the support he’d received from the Dragons and beyond.
It was an exceptional effort in many respects.
Then the 25-year-old went and reminded us that he is developing into a quite exceptional rugby player.
It wasn’t just the try he scored against Leinster.
At one point he also tracked back to hunt down Jordan Larmour with the lightning-quick Ireland international sniffing his second touchdown.
And Hewitt later sliced through the home cover with a run that left any number of home defenders clutching handfuls of thin air. Leinster did succeed in stopping him on that occasion, but the Welsh team's left wing asked questions of them whenever he had the ball.
In shining in adversity he surely would have impressed Wales coach Wayne Pivac, it being one thing to look good when a team is playing well, quite another to front up when it’s all going haywire collectively.
And it did go badly for the Dragons, who finished on the wrong end of a 35-5 scoreline.
An online stats page on the game didn’t have any figures for the Rodney Parade team late on Friday evening. Perhaps those doing the counting couldn’t keep track of the number of lineouts the Welsh team lost. A side with that poor a set-piece has not a hope in hell of beating Leinster in Dublin or anywhere else on this planet, for that matter.
Aaron Wainwright gave it his best shot, Nick Tompkins did what Nick Tompkins does and Jonah Holmes was much more in credit than not.
But Hewitt caught the eye the most for the visitors.
His was an effort that should ensure he figures prominently in the deliberations for a back-three berth in the Wales squad that’s being announced next week.
True, the competition in his position is hot, but Owen Lane is set to miss the autumn Tests because of injury, joining Johnny McNicholl on the sidelines.
If Pivac opts for eight back-three men for Wales’ extended programme, Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams — fitness permitting — can expect to be included along with Josh Adams and George North.
Those four have experience, proven Test quality and are certainties provided they are in good health.
It then gets more complicated, with five others likely to be battling for four places in Hewitt, Louis Rees-Zammit, Steff Evans, Hallam Amos and Jonah Holmes.
All have their plus points. The rapid Rees-Zammit was born to cross opposition try lines, Evans adds a creative spark, Amos is an all-round talent who can play at full-back or wing and Holmes is similarly versatile.
Hewitt? He’s delivering on his potential and has been to the fore every time he’s played for the Dragons of late. He defends strongly and the try he scored at the RDS underlined his ability as a finisher.
When he received the ball from Josh Lewis, he still had much to do, with Josh van der Flier racing across to cover. But even though the openside connected with an emphatic hit, driving Hewitt upwards and towards the touchline, the Dragon was able to twist his body in mid-air and touch down via a spectacular one-handed finish.
The score had international quality stamped all over it.
Pivac will also have noted that Holmes performed solidly.
He chased hard and on one occasion split the cover for what would have been a try had Sam Davies not lost his footing. Aside from a miss on Rhys Ruddock, the former Leicester Tiger also defended well enough.
And Holmes possesses the physical stature that international coaches tend to enjoy.
It’s going to be a tight call outside of the big four of Williams, Halfpenny, North and Adams, then, with a good player potentially left disappointed.
But Hewitt put his hand up in Dublin.
It’s hard to imagine he could have done much more.
Just maybe, it could prove enough.
