This man. This is the man. This man is the man.
Can we all just take a moment?
Jared Payne played only 40 minutes last night, in the 27-24 win over Australia, but they were 40 of the biggest minutes he has delivered in the green jersey so far.
The Tauranga native would have missed the game under any normal circumstances as his body was hanging together. These were not normal circumstances. So Payne gritted his teeth and he laced up his boots.
In Paris, back in February, Payne had Grade One hamstring tear just before the half-hour mark. But, with Dave Kearney already off injured, he played through the pain and put in a serious defensive shift.
We knew he was a tough, stubborn git but Saturday topped the lot.
Restricted from training for a large chunk of the week due to a dead leg he suffered against New Zealand, Payne’s back started playing up too. But Garry Ringrose was set for his first start at inside centre – for Ireland, Leinster, Blackrock or anyone – so Payne got out onto the training field as much as he could and did as many reps as he could.
Thursday’s training run before the team announcement was it for Payne. He gave it socks and was told to take Friday off. Rory Scannell was told to report for duty but Payne was never going to miss the Wallabies.
And then he got another injury. And then another. Ribs were bruised and it could be worse [he is set for a medical check on Monday] and his back flared up again.
Rob Kearney had left the field and so had Andrew Trimble so he played on. One more carry. One more tackle. One more support line. Minute by minute.
After the game, Joe Schmidt was in awe of Payne’s perseverance.
He revealed his outside centre had careened through the pain barrier. Schmidt told us:
“There were a number of guys that were sore from the week before. I don’t know if you’ve had a look back at the game but he got hit by Sam Whitelock just on the front of his leg at one stage. He had a dead leg. He had a pretty sore, all-round, body.
“He was pretty middling coming into the game but he is an important voice for us so he worked his way through the first half.
“He got a pretty decent whack in the ribs at one stage, which is a totally new injury, but it didn’t really help his sense of well-being.”
Ireland team-mate Tadhg Furlong told us he didn’t even know Payne had not emerged for the second half until he saw Kieran Marmion standing out on the right wing and Keith Earls moving into 13. Furlong is like so many of the Irish players in expecting Payne, no matter the problem, gnashing his teeth and getting on with it.
He only lasted 40 minutes but they were a huge 40 minutes and they left Ireland in a position to win a game they won, eventually.
Payne was not born in Ireland but he takes the pain for Ireland.
Dick Clerkin makes his GAA Hour debut to talk about a wonderful career and argue passionately with Colm Parkinson over Sky Sports GAA. Subscribe here on iTunes.
