And in doing so, he served Kidney a timely reminder of his talents in midfield and will be hoping he gets the nod ahead of Keith Earls next weekend as the man to fill Brian O’Driscoll’s sizeable shoes.

McFadden started Ireland’s narrow defeat to Wales in their first RBS 6 Nations match this season in Dublin but had been dropped to the bench in place of fit-again Earls for last weekend’s match against France before that match fell foul of the weather.

And while Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt admitted McFadden had been showing signs of tiredness following his time away with the Ireland squad, he was full of praise for his centre’s performance.

“Fergus gave a really gritty performance,” Schmidt told SportsNews Ireland.

“He really dug deep for us. It was great that he got through it.”