Cronin has spoken time and again about the realities of life on the replacements bench — and he spent long enough inhabiting Leinster’s version too — but he isn’t the only man being relieved of such chains after a period in relative captivity this weekend.

Of the 23 listed for duties against Italy, eight have never started a Six Nations fixture. Dave Kilcoyne and Ultan Dillane will, like Cronin, put that right this time but the wait will go on for Niall Scannell, John Ryan, John Cooney, Jack Carty, and Andrew Conway.

There’s no telling how long it could be for them. For one or more of that quintet, the call to arms may never come in a midweek team announcement and there is no guarantee the first gives rise to many more.

Jordi Murphy can attest to that.

It’s four years since the Ulster forward was last presented with the possibility of stretching his legs for 80 minutes in these spring surrounds and he needed little prompting yesterday, after being named at No. 8 this week, when asked if he could pinpoint the day and the opposition.

“Yeah, England 2015. It’s been a while, four years. It just shows you rugby is an up and down game. Personally, it would have been great to have played (more) before now. I’m obviously delighted to be getting a chance this week and really looking forward to it.

“I just remember a win,” he added of that outing. “I was up against big Billy Vunipola. It was a daunting enough task. It was a good team effort.

“I remember Robbie (Henshaw’s) heroic try off (Conor) Murray’s quick box kick. Just getting over the line was great that day.”

It’s not that Murphy hasn’t enjoyed moments in a green jersey since.

There was a central role in the 2015 World Cup, a starting berth against the All Blacks in Chicago (when he scored the first try before going off injured) and three considerable shifts on the winning three-Test tour of Australia last summer.

Schmidt regularly showed confidence in him when the pair were still coach and player at Leinster as well.

Rightly or wrongly, there is the impression out there that Murphy has always been the Kiwi’s type of player down the years and that he has never let his boss down.

“No I definitely think I can do better,” he reasoned.

“Like, there’s been times that he hasn’t picked me so he mustn’t like me that much! It’s just one of those things, he’s very much a fair coach, he picks on form.

“If you produce the goods for him, whether that be in training or you do what he’s asking from you when you are back with your province, he rewards you most of the time. I just hope to repay that faith this weekend.”

Now would certainly be an opportune time.

All of those named in the travelling party this weekend will be fully aware of the heightened consequences, whether good or bad, of their performances this week given the much longer journey on the horizon, to Japan, later in the year.

Murphy’s versatility makes him a decent bet to make that plane.

His first season with Ulster has featured appearances at both blindside and openside so his presence in Italy at No.8 only heightens his likely importance in a straitened World Cup squad of just 31.

“In the last couple of weeks, I have been training at six, seven or eight and I’ve always known that was one of the things that I can bring to the table.

The last time I went to the World Cup Joe said one of the reasons was because I offered that versatility.

“I have to perform as well because I’ve had the versatility the last couple of years and then maybe I haven’t been performing for a province, or when I come in here and haven’t been at the pace in training and I’ve been left out.

“All the boys who have been getting games in here over the last while have been top-quality players and, if you’re on the bench, you know you have to do a job in all three positions and everyone in the back row is really capable of doing that.”

Everyone is aware of the need for that sort of flexibility right now.

Jack Conan, who started against Scotland two weeks ago, has come to be tagged as a straight out No.8 with club and country but even he has suggested that he can play at six if the need was to arise.

The back row has always been a more fluid field of operations than most — and Schmidt has suggested that CJ Stander will be fit to slip back in at No. 8 against France in two weeks — but Murphy is primed for the subtle and not-so-subtle differences this challenge will bring.

“I’ve been doing a bit of everything the last couple of weeks in training anyway,” he explained, “whether it be six, seven or eight. I suppose just having that control at the base of the scrum can get messy.

“It is having the communication with the nine, whether it be Murray or (John Cooney) this weekend. There are different roles. We have quite a structured game, straight off our first phase, second, third. After that, we become unstructured, anyone can play any role then.”