Iain Henderson is sure to be in and around the Ireland squad heading to this Autumn's Rugby World Cup and the thought of pulling on the green jersey at the tournament is already in the back of his mind.
The 23-year-old has 17 caps and will no doubt win many, many more based on his recent form.
The Ireland and Ulster forward spoke to Off The Ball as an important part of the season kicks into gear.
"It's obviously in the back of everyone's minds at the minute but what everyone's mainly thinking about is playing well in these next few games. These three or four games will be the games that will get you selected in the summer training squad, where you can make a real impact and those warm ups games for the Irish selection to really stake your claim there," he said.
He has had a few injury problems this season and with all of the resulting time off, Henderson revealed that it allowed him time and space to work on a few things on and off the rugby pitch.
Ireland's Iain Henderson ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
"It freed up a bit of time and one of my colleagues, Andrew Trimble, was also free so we decided to spring ourselves into a car mechanics course. We ended up doing a six month beginners car mechanics course and we both have classic Minis and we're trying to tinker about with them. But also on the rugby side, I did a fair bit of improving on my analysis and looking at opposition for the teams that we would be playing."
But he also spoke about nearly opting not to play provincial rugby in favour of studying in Edinburgh.
"I was going over there to study actuarial sciences and Johnny Bell, our coach at the time, said 'if you stay, there's a high chance you'll play for the U20s this season which could lead into a position in the Ulster academy, which is the best shot to get into the Ulster squad'. I spoke to my Dad and he said 'the number of people that go into the academy that don't end up making it means it might not be worth your while, but on the other hand the worst that could happen is a year out but following that you can go back to your studies'".
Henderson, who lives with Ulster team-mate Stuart Olding, also spoke about the amount of microwaves he destroyed during his time playing pranks as a student.
