Luke Fitzgerald's long, excruciating quest to get back in the green jersey will come to an end on Saturday when he lines out on the left wing against Scotland.
Fitzgerald held court at Carton House this afternoon and delivered a number of great responses about his plethora of injuries, the hard work it took him to regain his place in the team and his hopes of playing on until the ripe old age of 35.
Asked if there was a time - during his lengthy injury lay-offs [starting back in 2010] - he thought of giving up, Fitzgerald said, 'I was pretty close, with some of the major injuries, and I didn't really see a way back and I couldn't figure out what the problem was.
'It was funny that, given all the major, structural ones, I have had that it was a soft tissue one groin and abductor muscles] that I was close to calling it a day on. I couldn't figue it out.
'It was too frustrating, coming in two or three times a day and working really, really hard and getting no results. I have worked really hard and I feel it is a nice result; I have been rewarded today.'
Have a listen to Fitzgerald's full interview here:
https://soundcloud.com/dirt-trackers/lukefitgeraldprescotland
Simon Zebo misses out on the squad entirely, although he will travel to Edinburgh in a back-up role.
Fitzgerald said, 'I obviously commiserated with Simon and he congratulated me. It's a really tough position to be in. I suppose I had to congratulate him on the couple of weeks beforehand.
'It's never nice. You are always saying: 'I wish I was in, I feel like I should be in' and like I said before there is a huge amount of competition there and you realise that every day when you are in training. Everything counts. Every rep counts, so we did talk and it's tough for me and delighted for myself. It's a huge day for me and my family.'
