Peter O'Mahony has hailed Johnny Sexton for "changing rugby for the better" as the Munster skipper prepares for what he describes as the biggest game of his Ireland career.
O'Mahony and Sexton have soldiered together at Test level for over a decade.
And, with the latter leading Ireland out in his last ever Six Nations game on Saturday, the Corkman paid a massive tribute to his colleague, the former World player of the year who is still one of the best players in the sport at the age of 37.
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"He's had too big a career, too long a career to sum it up in a few words," said O'Mahony.
"He has changed rugby for the better. He has taught people what it is like to be a professional, to be an Irishman.
"All these things add to the occasion. But these are things we have spoken about and put to one side."
Meanwhile, O'Mahony has dismissed the notion that England are a poor side as he describes the upcoming fixture as the biggest game of his Ireland career.
He has played on some massive stages for his country, including a World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand and the historic series win over the All Blacks last summer.
The 33-year-old was even a Grand Slam winner with Ireland at Twickenham five years ago, but to him this is the greatest occasion of them all.
"It's probably the biggest one," said O'Mahony. "Certainly the biggest one of this group's campaign.
"It would mean a huge amount but me sitting here talking about winning a Grand Slam, isn’t going to help me perform on Saturday.
"The plan for us is performance, performance, performance - go after the game, play to win and give it our very best shot. Look, if that isn’t enough then fair play.
"But it's great to be able to sit here and say these games are getting bigger and bigger.
"That was certainly our plan at the start of this, but as I said it's easy to get caught up in what is a very big and important weekend - from our point of view it's purely about playing our game, and trusting our game is strong."
What he is predicting is a strong response from an England outfit that was humiliated by France last weekend and that racked up a record-breaking home defeat.
The notion that England aren't what they were when they made the World Cup final in 2019 is far from O'Mahony's thoughts, given his experience with the British and Irish Lions.
"Yeah, I’m not buying it," he stated. "I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside a big chunk of that English team and I know how proud they are.
"I know how proud they are to play with their country. I know what quality of player they are, quality of person they are and how important it would be for them to put on a performance for themselves more than anyone, to show themselves the potential that I certainly know they have, but that’s the challenge for us.
"We’re expecting the best version of those English boys to come to the Aviva on Saturday and to perform and to do that we know we’ve got to be at our very best so I’m certainly not buying that.
"Irish teams of old have been emotionally charged. I'm not saying for a second we won't be emotional. However, we have to think about being calm, being in the present and in the moment. It will take an incredible performance to be able to beat England.
"We will need a lot of graft, the previous few games have been unbelievably difficult. But this group has got through them to navigate to this point.
"It's very exciting. These weeks don't come around very often in anyone's career. We've certainly talked about treating it with the utmost respect but enjoying the week.
"Playing the game, not the occasion, is the thing for us. The occasion could be all-encompassing or a lot of weight to take, but for this team it's just about the performance and another game in the Six Nations."
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