It’s one thing getting penalised when you’re clearly in the wrong. Porter didn’t feel he was doing anything illegal. That’s much worse. How do you fix something on the fly when you don’t know why there’s a problem in the first place?

“It's tough sometimes when you think you're a bit hard done by to try to fix it, when you feel that you were doing alright, but obviously there's different interpretations of that and everyone has a different view of it and that's what the ref saw on the day.” 

He said in an interview given to Rugbypass last week that his ‘blood was boiling’ with the decisions and he has reiterated the declaration this week that he never felt as low after a game as he did in the wake of that four-point All Blacks defeat.

Coming home was supposed to help. He thought seeing his family and feeding his dog would be the balm his soul needed but, with no rugby to distract him and time still to start the healing process, he found peace beyond him.

"I'm fairly sure the first week I came home I got five hours of sleep the whole week.” 

New York, the city that never goes to bed, was the answer. 

Porter and his wife Elaine hadn’t time to fit in a honeymoon after getting hitched in July, just as World Cup prep was getting serious, so the Big Apple in October was the right place at the right time.

They took in a New York Knicks game and went ice skating and Porter found his disinterest in musicals challenged no end by the magnificence of The Lion King. He’s not fully over France yet, but that getaway and his return to Leinster have helped no end.

The mental journey is one thing after a World Cup, the physical element is another. Porter only played one of the three warm-ups but then started all six games in the tournament itself, coming off shortly after half-time in three of them.

“I feel refreshed after the time off. It’s getting back to match fitness again and being able to put in those 70-80 minute shifts if I have to. That’s what I love doing. I like being able to back my fitness so there was definitely a few cobwebs being blown off against Scarlets.

“It’s great to be back but it is stranger having that at the start of the season where you are playing such high-intensity games and playing that amount. They rack up at the start of the season but it is great to be back.” 

Another four years will have to pass before he or anyone else in an Ireland jersey gets another crack at a World Cup. No such wait will be required as he turns to Leinster duties with a squad equally keen to make up for past failures.

Trophyless these past two seasons, the province will lack for nothing in the way of motivation tomorrow when they face a Munster rival that ended their season with Jack Crowley’s late drop goal in a URC semi-final last May.

“There is a huge hunger in the squad now and yet you are looking back to the last two seasons where we have come up short. We are definitely the hunters now and we have our targets set and our sights narrowed down.

“We know what we want to do and a lot of the players here are as hungry as ever to go out and play. It’s one of those things where we’ve got a huge chip on our shoulder.

“What better way to be able to do it: playing at home at the Aviva and then two weeks after we have the European champions and Connacht as well. We have huge interpro games, the Champions Cup, then Munster down in Thomond so it is a huge bloc.

“It’s an incredibly exciting time to come back and play.”