Stephen Ferris hailed the "class" of Stuart McCloskey after the Ulster centre's impressive cameo against South Africa last week.
McCloskey left his mark on the Autumn Nations Series clash in Dublin before having to go off after just 28 minutes with what initially looked like a serious arm injury.
Fortunately the knock wasn't as bad as first suspected, with McCloskey now set to start against Fiji at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Read more: Ireland vs Fiji TV and live stream info for Saturday's game
Ferris has been a long-time admirer of the 30-year-old, and has regularly questioned why McCloskey hasn't featured in more Ireland squads.
Looking back on last week's win over the Springboks, Ferris told Balls.ie: "He was class, he tidied up a few things for Ireland, a couple of loose balls went in behind I think it was a kick chase which fell into his hands, broke off a couple of tackles, made a bit of ground, a couple of key defensive plays as well.
"He showed a bit more physically for me, especially in defence, knocked a couple of guys back. I think it was Peter Steph Du Toit, who is a big unit, knocked him on his backside.
"It was really disappointing to see him go off because he was playing well and I’m sure he was devastated with the magnitude of the game and having to leave the field.
"Fair play to Stuart McCloskey, a lot of people analysing his performances."
Ferris praised Ireland's character against the World Cup champions last weekend, especially after losing key players before and during the game.
"They made Ireland make a few mistakes, which we probably haven’t seen in the past. It probably felt like the better team on the day just lost out, which from an Ireland perspective is brilliant," the former British and Irish Lion added.
"When they aren’t playing at their full potential, when they get a couple of key injuries, Tadhg Furlong going off, Johnny Sexton not 100%, big Stuart McCloskey going off, Robbie Henshaw pulling out during the week. Challenges that faced the Irish team, and they answered them all.
"Everything wasn’t perfect, but they came out the right side of the result, and that’s all that matters on international rugby, and that’s all that matters when it comes to Rugby World Cups."
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