Andrew Porter

AFTER HE left the field in Ireland’s final Test of 2021, against Argentina at the Aviva, the television cameras lingered for a moment on Andrew Porter with his deadpan expression just about visible beneath that Desperate Dan beard.

Any number of things could have been going though his mind at that moment. A quiet reflection on how brilliantly he has bounced back from being invalided out of the Lions tour even before they set off for South Africa? A sense of pride at how well he’s transitioned from being Ireland’s second-choice tighthead to their first-choice loosehead? A feeling of exhilaration having just won his sixth Test in a row, one of the six being a spectacular victory against the All Blacks?

Or maybe something a little more mundane, like, ‘What will I feed Pablo when I get home?’ “Pablo’s my dog, an old English bulldog,” says Porter. “You know how they say that dogs and their owners