It's more than a year since Leinster coach John Fogarty suggested that Andrew Porter should make the transition from loosehead prop across to the tighthead position.
Since doing so, he has benefited immensely. He already has three Ireland caps in a position which, certainly at provincial level, is not as much of a bottleneck as the race for the number one jersey.
"I never really considered that move before. I thought I was doing alright for myself at loosehead considering the under 20s world championship; I thought I did alright in that. Then there was this massive step up to professional level after that," says the 21-year-old.
"It was never really in my mind to transition over to the right-hand side but with the support and coaching from everyone at Leinster, it has really helped me and made that transition a lot easier.
When Porter says that everyone has helped him make move, he really means everyone. That includes the various rivals in his position.
It's almost like writing with your bad hand, at the beginning. You go through ups and downs. You might have a bad training day, or something, but is is all part of learning.
You have some of the top guys in there. When Mike Ross was here, he was always helping me out and now you have Tadhg Furlong and even Michael Bent as well. Even though we are all going for the number three jersey, we are all helping each other out and making each other better.
Porter sees Tadhg Furlong's rapid rise to being indispensable for both province and country as an inspiration.
"That's what makes the environment at Leinster so special. Across the board, everyone is training to help each other out. It could be an outhalf and Johnny Sexton would be more than happy to take the younger lads under his wing and help out.
"It's really good in that sense. And I can pick Tadhg or Benty's brain about being a tight-head, open play or anything like that.
Sean O'Brien, Joey Carbery and Andrew Porter were in the RDS to launch Life Style Sports' latest fan competition. Fans attending the next four home games should keep an eye out for the Life Style Sports stamped seats. If you find yourself in a special seat and are wearing the latest Leinster Rugby jersey, be sure to take s selfie with the stamp tagging @LifeStyleSportsRugby on Instagram to win a €50 gift card. Life Style Sports is an official retail partner of Leinster Rugby.
Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
