A dream Ireland debut for Hugo Keenan, who performed to the best of his ability at the Aviva Stadium in Ireland's seven-try rout of Italy in the Six Nations.
As it happens, the worst part of the weekend is about to unfold for Keenan and his three fellow debutants (Jamison Gibson-Park and Ed Byrne came off the bench). They'll all have an initiation song to sing after their Test bows!
"Not until later," he grimaced. "I'm not sure what song I will sing, I'm not known for my singing abilities.
"Not looking forward to it but it has to be done!".
But Keenan couldn't disguise his satisfaction after scoring a brace of tries having been selected on the left wing. “It was an unbelievable experience, the stuff of dreams," said the 24-year-old.
"The lads put in some shift and made it easy for me, so to have two tries as well was something special.
“I have been tipping away. When I was in the (Ireland) Sevens, then the first games with Leinster, you don’t really look too far into the future.
“Scoring a try today was very special, such a cool feeling with the lads celebrating with you, it was not the way how you would have imagined (with no supporters present in the empty stadium) but it was a great day.
“It's tough, is a step up in intensity, the ball in play time was quite high, the physicality level is challenging but I enjoyed the challenge."
Had he scored three tries, Keenan would have been the first Irishman to score a debut hat-trick at level since Seamus Byrne in 1953.
After scoring the first on the half hour mark, he was denied a second two minutes later for a slight James Ryan obstruction that was picked up after Keenan had dived over. But he did get his second four minutes later, running onto Conor Murray's kick.
“As (fellow new cap) Ed Byrne says, the third would not have come about had the second not been disallowed. So I will take two any day of the week," smiled Keenan.
“I was just finishing off the scores – the other lads had done the hard work."
And it was made even better by the fact that he lined out with fellow Leinster player Will Connors, who was also outstanding on his debut and scored the fourth try on the hour to secure the winning bonus point.
“Will is one of my best mates, our dads get on very well together and we made our European Cup debuts together against Saracens about a month ago, we have grown up together and it was really special to make the debut together," said Keenan.
"Seeing him go so well, win the man of the match, put in so many tackles, it is just great to see.”
Speaking afterwards, Ireland boss Andy Farrell said that he would love to see the GPS numbers put up by Keenan, who seemed to cover every blade of grass.
“You play what is in front of you – you just chase your kick chases, you work hard," said the Dubliner.
"The team is not going to be picked on GPS stats, it is just a sidenote.
"Andy has been great, all the coaches have been, it gives you such confidence going into the game. That showed with all the lads.
The big question now is whether Ireland can do a similar job in Paris, where the standard will go up several notches in terms of opposition quality.
“It is a huge ask, it is such a tough place to go," admitted Keenan.
"But coming off that performance, we will have a lot of belief. We can build from here and give next week a good crack.
"It is about putting in a big performance and then the scoreline will take care of itself.”
