Ireland's Paul O'Connell will tackle Wales for the second time in the RBS Six Nations Championship on Sunday and this time he hopes to remember it.
O'Connell made his debut in the corresponding fixture two seasons ago as Ireland romped to a record 54-10 win at Lansdowne Road. He made what should have been a dream start to his international career, scoring the second of his side's six tries after being driven over direct from a line-out.
But the Munster second-row has no memory of the game. Caught in the head by a stray elbow early in the contest, O'Connell (24) had to be helped from the field after half an hour and missed the following two games with concussion.
"When I came off the doctor told me I had scored a try but I thought he was just trying to calm me down and cheer me up a little bit because I couldn't remember a thing," he said.
"It was only when I saw the try on TV in the medical room at half-time that I realised he wasn't joking. We must have practised a thousand line-outs during the week but I couldn't remember a single call. I just jumped and caught it and the forwards did the rest."
It was almost 18 months before O'Connell started another game for Ireland but, having performed well on tour in Tonga and Samoa, he cemented a place in coach Eddie O'Sullivan's first-choice World Cup line-up.
Now an automatic choice, he was handed the captaincy in Paris last week when Brian O'Driscoll was ruled out with a hamstring injury but the latter's return for the Wales encounter has relieved O'Connell of that responsibility.
Even without the extra responsibility, O'Connell should be relishing the opportunity of facing Steve Hansen's men on Sunday. Aside from his debut, he also scored two tries against Wales in a pre-World Cup international last August.
Since then though, the red dragon has started breathing fire again.
"I'm not shocked about how well they are doing now," he said. "I was probably more surprised at how far they dipped beforehand. They have always had a lot of excellent players who were possibly too structured under Graham Henry.
"Maybe because he is leaving in the summer, Steve Hansen has just told them to go out and play, which is exactly what they are doing. They were always going to come good in the end and after their win over Scotland, I'm sure they will head to Dublin full of confidence."
PA