It’s not Jared Payne’s fault that he’s the one filling a position previously held by Ireland’s greatest ever player.
Identified in 2010, recruited a year later and naturalised by last season, the Kiwi’s increasing value was clear for all to see at Twickenham a fortnight past. He proved essential in slowing the breaking white wave as Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson flooded his channel. So did Sam Burgess. They all went down.
He looks at us wide eyed as we seek to know what he was doing as his native land stressed their way to a World Cup four years ago. Payne was already laid up in Belfast. With Brian O'Driscoll's end on the horizon and no natural heir revealing himself, Ireland sensibly went in search of a temporary successor.
While all this was happening there sat Payne with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Still unproven in the northern hemisphere, it wasn’t yet known that he was the ideal man for a thankless role.
In 2011 he never thought that he would ever play at a World Cup. “To tell you the truth, it was pretty grim sitting there with your foot up,” he says.
Even though we knew one of the main reasons the IRFU backed David Humphreys going to New Zealand to get him was to play centre, Payne still snuck up on us all.
We saw the performances and just how valuable he was for Ulster at fullback, bringing precision and exceptional timing to their offence.
What we were unsure about was how those sporadic runs at centre for Canterbury, Auckland and Waikato could translate to the Irish 13 jersey. At a World Cup no less.
Many had shelved that idea as Robbie Henshaw seemed like the solution. He would be switched from Connacht's back field and Payne could serve Ulster.
Picked at inside centre
Something happened late last October that required hawk eye in the provinces. Henshaw was picked at inside centre for Connacht as Payne became a fixture at outside centre for Ulster, seemingly to the detriment of Darren Cave’s progress.
Not so. Cave is now as much 12 as he is a 13 cover in the Ireland camp. Henshaw is the 12, Payne the 13. We know what we are told and shown.
Same goes for the players. O’Driscoll even tagged Payne a better fullback before November happened. He backed Henshaw to fill his jersey. Gordon D’Arcy seemed to have another year to run.
Joe Schmidt unleashed his plan against South Africa. The new partnership of Tauranga 29-year-old and Athlone 21-year-old held firm in the face of Springbok captain Jean de Villiers and Jan Serfontein.
The latter is playing Currie Cup this weekend as de Villiers, having almost miraculously recovered from a horrific knee snap, leads the Boks to the World Cup (beware the coming of Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende – pace and power incarnate).
Schmidt still preaches caution but Henshaw and Payne did in 2015 what D'Arcy and O'Driscoll did in 2014; they held the Irish midfield to ensure retention of the Six Nations title.
“I played centre a lot with Northland and the Blues before I came here then went to fullback again,” Payne told us last year. “Getting back into 13 is nice. I’m comfortable enough with it.
“Bit more tackling. More work on your defence, your attacking lines are a bit tighter. When you play rugby you are there from set-piece, then it breaks up into phase play and you just play.”
Spoken like a natural. Exactly what Ireland need patrolling that outside defensive channel, in attack and especially in defence.
"There are some big ball-carriers there," he noted of Canada this week. "Sean Reidy, a friend in New Zealand, said he played with a few of them there when they were travelling around. He said they were big direct boys who could push some tin.
Massive test
“And there are guys like [Jeff] Hassler and DTH [van der Merwe] who take their opportunities like they do. It’s going to be a massive test.”
Gordon D’Arcy called them the new breed. Payne has been surviving in the land of the giant centres all his playing days.
“It’s part of rugby. You get used to it. There is always someone bigger and stronger than you in rugby. It’s just about having your wits about you and shutting them down.”
