'It was very frustrating' - Connacht's Dave Heffernan motivated by Irish disappointment

The 2024/25 season has been a mixed one so far for Dave Heffernan.

The 33-year-old has been in career-best form this season, but that has been offset by a frustrating time in Ireland camp in November.

A seven-cap international, he had been tipped by many to be Ireland's first-choice hooker during the November internationals when Rónan Kelleher and Rob Herring came into the campaign carrying injuries, while Dan Sheehan was sidelined with a long-term knee injury.

In the end, the Connacht veteran was the only member of the Ireland squad who didn't see any game time, with Andy Farrell giving an opportunity to young Leinster prospect Gus McCarthy, while Kelleher and Herring recovered just in time for the opening game of the month against the All Blacks.

"I’m not going to lie to you, it was very frustrating," he told RTÉ Sport of his time in camp last month.

A major factor in that disappointment was missing out on getting another cap in Ireland.

Looking back on his seven previous caps, it’s worth noting when and where they came.

Of his five caps at Aviva Stadium, four of those came in an empty stadium during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, while the other was in front of a crowd of just 6,000 when the restrictions were eased in the summer of 2021.

His only Ireland appearances in front of a real crowd were against the USA away from home in 2017, and Ireland's first Test defeat in New Zealand in 2022.

"Obviously I’m very disappointed with it. I’d love to have played a proper home game at the Aviva Stadium, it would have been class.

"Very disappointing, but that’s life sometimes, and in fairness to Gus [McCarthy] he did unbelievably well when he got in there, as did Rob and Rónan.

"There’s constant dialogue there, and I think they have been