THE GAME ITSELF didn’t turn out the way that the Irish province would have wanted, but Leinster’s round 13 clash with Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium on 21 March in the United Rugby Championship represented a career milestone for Scott Penny.

A debutant against Ospreys in the Pro14 at the RDS Arena back on 23 November, 2018, the openside flanker came off the bench with 27 minutes remaining for his 100th senior appearance when Leinster paid their latest visit to Glasgow last month. The hosts ultimately triumphed on a final scoreline of 38-17, but it was still a notable occasion for Penny with many of those closest to the former St Michael’s College student making the journey over to Scotland for this landmark outing.

“Obviously, it was a disappointing result that day. It wasn’t the performance we wanted, but it was great to mark the occasion. My family and friends all flew over, which was nice. It would have been lovely to get the win, but it’s great to make those milestones and my family were all very proud of me, which was nice,” Penny said.

“I remember the first cap pretty well. It was against Ospreys in the RDS, I scored a try. I had 40 or 50 of my mates down in the RDS and I remember it like it was yesterday.

“That’s the thing. To get to 100 caps, it was something I always dreamed of doing, but it’s something that not everyone gets to achieve. I was very happy to do so and do it in front of friends and family, which was also great.”

While he and Leinster didn’t get the desired outcome against Glasgow, Penny’s 101st cap proved to be much sweeter for all concerned. Having missed out on encounters with Scarlets and Edinburgh in the URC and the European Champions Cup respectively, Penny returned to the match day 23 when the Blues took on Sale Sharks at the quarter-final stage of the latter competition at the Aviva Stadium last Saturday.

Entering the fray as a 50th-minute replacement for Josh van der Flier when his side were just six points to the good, Penny played his part as Leinster found their rhythm to eventually come away with a 43-13 victory. He emerged from the contest as the third highest tackler despite his limited time on the pitch and will hope to be in the reckoning for team selection when the eastern province face Top 14 outfit Toulon in a Champions Cup semi-final at the Aviva on Saturday, 2 May.

“Obviously you want to have a big impact in a game, but also you don’t want to come in and be all hot-headed, give away penalties, to make mistakes. You need to fit in first, but you also want to bring some energy when you come on because obviously the lads had 50, 60 minutes and they’re probably out on their feet. You need to give them that burst of energy,” Penny said of his outing against Sale.

“You want to be involved in as many games as possible. Especially in the Champions Cup. It’s the pinnacle of club rugby. Whenever you get a chance, you want to make sure that you’re putting your best foot forward and obviously you can do all you want for selection in terms of performances.

“It’s making sure that you have no regrets when the time comes for these big matches. Make sure you’ve done all you can. If you don’t get picked, you don’t get picked, but at least you’ve put your best foot forward.”

This Friday will see Penny having the perfect opportunity to impress Leo Cullen and the rest of his coaching staff ahead of that European date with Toulon as he is set to feature for Leinster against Ulster in a URC interprovincial derby at Affidea Stadium in Belfast.

Yet Ulster are coming into the game off the back of an EPCR Challenge Cup win over La Rochelle on home soil last Friday and Penny is very aware of how formidable their back-row can be if allowed the chance to dictate affairs.

“Obviously, [Juarno] Augustus has been a good signing for them. They’ve Bryn Ward coming through, Cormac [Izuchukwu], Nick Timoney, David McCann. They’ve loads of quality back rows and they’ve obviously all gotten better as the years have come on,” Penny added.

“Going up to Ulster, it’s always a close game. They’ve had a few wins up there, we’ve had a few wins up there the last few years and it has always been close. It’s going to be a proper interpro derby, it’s going to be heated. We’re really looking forward. It’s going to be a proper, physical battle.”