Nostalgia is something that Andrew Porter tries to avoid on match weeks - but this week he can't help to look back at where it started and how it's going.
"I try not to get too nostalgic when I'm preparing for a game. I'm trying to be present, not to let my mind wander too much which is easy for me," said the Ireland prop.
"But it's hard not to think of those memories growing up, to games my dad brought me to when I was younger and things like that.
"Watching it transpire to turn to where I am now, through my exposure when I was younger, it's crazy."
And a memory from his childhood is on his mind this week.
He is a bit fuzzy on when exactly it happened but Porter reckons he was a kid of around six or seven when he met his rugby hero, Jonah Lomu. "It was before 2005, maybe 2001 or 2002," he said.
“My first match, I can’t remember the exact year but I had a photo of myself and my cousin sitting with Jonah Lomu in one of the hotels that they were staying in," said the Leinster and Ireland star.
"That was probably my first memory of the All Blacks. I remember my uncle brought me down to see them in the hotel and I just remember he was a mountain of a man.
"I was a big kid as well - but looking at the photo, I looked absolutely dwarfed.
"I still have the photo somewhere in the house. It’s crazy looking back on it. That was my first memory.
"I think we just posed for a photo, I can't remember it really.
"I was so awestruck, I couldn't get many words out. I was so excited, it's great having those memories of being a young kid growing up.
"Looking up at the stars, your heroes."
Being so young, it wasn't from watching live or recorded matches of the unstoppable Lomu that made him recognise the Kiwi great that day.
Rather, it was through the Playstation 1 game that bore his name.
"I remember playing that in my cousin's house, that's how I got to know him starting out," Porter smiled.
"My Dad lived in New Zealand when he was younger so I remember him telling me about Jonah Lomu, showing me videos when I was younger.
"His style was kind of unmatched in his era, it was nice watching him run over people. Not so nice watching him against the Irish players."
Porter was happy to relate his story two days out from today's Aviva Stadium clash, and to reminisce about beating the Baby Boks in 2016.
But at the same time he is trying to stay focused on what's ahead of him in his third meeting with the All Blacks.
It will be his 39th Ireland cap but he is certainly back in learning mode, having made the decision to switch back across the scrum to loosehead from tighthead in the summer.
The followed what he admits were some very low days after his Lions adventure ended prematurely through injury against Japan.
Porter knows this will be a massive test of that decision, but he will look to step up and play a central role, especially given the mini-Covid crisis that enveloped the squad yesterday.
He was a bench player in 2018, when Ireland beat New Zealand in Dublin, and played a similar role at Tokyo Stadium a year later when the All Blacks gained their comfortable revenge.
"Thinking back to 2018, it seems like a long time ago now but honestly I can remember everything about that day," he reflected.
"I didn’t get long on the pitch but I had people coming up to me, even up to a couple of weeks ago asking, ‘what did it feel like, what was the atmosphere in the stadium like?’.
"They were people who weren’t at the game, family members. It was a special day - not just for us as a team, but for everyone who knows you, my family and the wider playing group as well.
"So it is hugely exciting - not just for us as a team, but for us as a country."
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