Ulster hooker Rob Herring is ready to do battle with Leinster's dynamic duo for a starting place against Wales.
Herring, 31, started four of the five championship games last year.
But Rónan Kelleher's late call-up to the Lions in South Africa was a sign of things to come as the 23-year-old got the nod to start all three November series wins for Ireland.
Then Kelleher's Leinster team-mate Dan Sheehan made his debut off the bench against Japan and also replaced Kelleher against Argentina.
In between, Herring came off the bench against New Zealand but after the Test window he agreed with Ireland boss Andy Farrell's assessment that he needed to find more to compete with the new kids on the block.
"You've got to look at yourself first," said Herring.
"There's probably five or six really good hookers in Ireland and particularly over the last campaign, Dan and Rónan really stepped up.
"I want to be the first choice hooker and I want to step things up and have more involvements, but we're all pushing each other on, that's the overall goal.
"Faz said to me after the Autumn that he felt I wasn't getting involved as much and other boys were, and when I took a step back and looked at it, that was 100% fair.
"I probably wasn't putting my best foot forward and it's something that is in my control and that I can improve on. Hopefully since then that has shown."
Herring bounced into Ireland camp yesterday on the back of a strong Champions Cup campaign with Ulster.
He scored a great try against Northampton before Christmas and added two more from the back of lineout mauls in last Saturday's dramatic 34-31 victory over Clermont.
"People notice tries but stuff from the back of the maul, that comes from the work of the other forwards. I'm just the guy who gets to put it down," said the South African.
"But I've certainly tried to get more involved, particularly with my carrying and what I offer in attack. It's been nice to get my hands on the ball more.
"I wanted to improve. I knew I had to step things up. It's something that I've been working on and it's starting to come good.
"I want to take that to the next level now."
Herring knows that there is a lot of support for Kelleher and Sheehan to get the nod for next week.
"People are going to have opinions, no matter what you do and how you're going," he said.
"It's easy to say I just block out the noise but it is there in the background. If that's what is driving you, you're probably not going to get that far.
"I'm very self-driven and have my own standards that I like to meet. I'm very competitive as well and that will hopefully push me on - if I'm relying on outside motivations it's not going to get me far.
"It's going to be a good battle for guys to get into the matchday 23.
"If you want to be the best team that competes for Six Nations and wants to win the World Cup, that's where we have to be."
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