After a scintillating debut in green, O’Brien may get his shot under Andy Farrell for November’s fixtures after an injury to first-choice right wing Mack Hansen.

If selected, O’Brien would relish going up against the All Blacks, who narrowly missed out on the Rugby Championship title to South Africa.

“Once you get to this level you have to be aware that everyone is going to be very good,” he said,

“I have to focus on what I do best and hopefully that will do the job.”

Ireland have defeated New Zealand on four more occasions since that famous win in 2016 and O’Brien says “we don’t put anyone on a pedestal”, especially after that breakthrough win.

“That New Zealand team would have come off the back of the 2015 and 2011 World Cups, so they were an incredibly successful team,” he added.

“That was breaking the barrier by beating the All Blacks for the first time and we’ve managed to do it a couple of times since.

“We respect them and know how good a team they are but we’re looking forward to the challenge of facing them.”