Brian O'Driscoll insists he will be as excited in winning his 100th Test cap, against Australia here on Sunday, as he was when he made his international debut against the Wallabies a decade ago.
The gifted centre can expect a hero's welcome at Croke Park when he leads Ireland out for what will be their first home international since completing the Six Nations grand slam in March.
And O'Driscoll insisted the hunger and nerves he experienced as a 20-year-old in Brisbane have not diminished despite a rollercoaster career that has taken in six Tests for the British and Irish Lions and 93 for Ireland - 53 as captain.
"I enjoy it as much now as I did in the early days, though it probably comes more naturally to me now," he said.
"Playing against teams of the calibre of Australia, you have to be on the ball and if you're eating your pre-match meal with no problems then there's an issue there.
"You need to be forcing the food down, you need to have those few nerves in the stomach and a few butterflies. It focuses the mind and just gets you ready for combat.
"I have a great hunger for the game at the moment and I still look forward to pulling on the green jersey," the 30-year-old added.
No-one though should confuse his enthusiasm with naivety and O'Driscoll said there wasn't a team around that could match the wit of the Wallabies.
"Australia are a very smart team, the smartest in world rugby. They think about how to break down defences and have the personnel to do that.
"They're able to adapt on the pitch, changing from Plan A if they need to. That makes them dangerous."
Ireland's youthful opponents are equally well aware of the challenge posed by the European champions.
Despite the advantage of playing a Test already this season, and facing a team notoriously sluggish at the outset of the November series, Australia coach Robbie Deans is mindful Irish rugby is going through a golden era at both international and provincial level.
"It's going to be a litmus test for us. They're the grand slam Six Nations champions, European Cup champions two years in 08 and 09 (Munster and Leinster), so there's an awful lot of experience and belief in the group we're playing at Croke Park," Deans said.
But the New Zealander's team have more than their 18-9 victory last weekend against England to give them an edge.
Flanker Rocky Elsom played alongside O'Driscoll in the Leinster team that won the European Cup last season and assistant coach Jim Williams played for and coached Munster.
And now Elsom has the honour of captaining the Wallabies against many of his former Leinster team-mates.
But with Australia having lost two of their last three Tests in Dublin, Elsom's mood was not especially sentimental.
"I wouldn't say I was really pumped up to be playing against the guys but it will be good to see everyone and catch up.
"This is probably the best Irish side we've ever seen. Definitely it's a big challenge," said Elsom, whose team are bidding to become only the second Australia side after the celebrated 1984 Wallabies to complete a grand slam of wins over England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales on the one tour.
O'Driscoll though said Elsom would concentrate on the immediate job at hand.
"He's a world-class player. I'm sure his mind will be solely focused on winning a Test match.
"I happened to bump into him in a restaurant in Dublin on Monday, we just chatted away for a while.
"But for 80 minutes on Sunday we'll put all that aside and we'll take each other on."
Australia have made just one change to the team that won at Twickenham with 21-year-old David Pocock pushing openside flanker George Smith - one of the ten other players O'Driscoll will join in the 'hundred club' - onto the bench.
Ireland coach Declan Kidney has made two alterations to the side that clinched the grand slam with a 17-15 victory over Wales, with Paddy Wallace in the centre instead of Gordon D'Arcy and 22-year-old prop Cian Healy starting a Test for the first time in place of the injured Marcus Horan.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
