Before then, he had established himself as a firm favourite amongst the eastern province’s faithful with a series of impressive displays in the United Rugby Championship.

Many Munster supporters will be wondering what might have been, given Jenkins spent the 2021/22 campaign as a member of their first-team squad.

Unfortunately, a series of niggling injuries meant he only picked up 10 caps in the red jersey – nine of which arrived after his move to Leinster was confirmed in February of last year.

“Initially it was two six-week injuries and then I had a frustrating one with the groin. Which we initially thought wasn’t that bad, but it kept lingering on and ended up being 12 weeks. It was frustrating, you lose a bit of faith in your body and you started asking questions like ‘Why is all of this happening?’”

Jenkins recalled of the injuries that blighted his time at Munster.

After spending four seasons in Japan with Toyota Verblitz, Jenkins joined the Reds on a one-year contract. He freely admits signing such a short deal made moving to Munster a risk, but the benefits of a switch to this part of the world proved persuasive.

“Most players probably wouldn’t do that, usually it’s a standard two years or more. It was a risk, but I was willing to take that risk. I felt that coming from Japan, I needed to have that step up in rugby. It was obviously very frustrating for me and I think for coach Johann [Van Graan] at the time and for the fans.

“Obviously if you get a new signing, you want them to make an impact, but it is part of the game. Getting a couple of games at the back of last season, it was mostly off the bench. It wasn’t the impact I would have liked to have made, but for me it just moved to a more personal space of getting back onto the field.”

All going well, Jenkins should be back in contention for Leinster within the next couple of weeks. Having made a test debut for South Africa against Wales in June 2018, he has aspirations to add a second senior international cap in the near future.

Another man who is making steady progress in the battle to regain full fitness is Jenkins’ former Bulls and Munster colleague RG Snyman.

Despite officially joining the province in July 2020, World Cup winner Snyman has been restricted to just four Munster appearances owing to a brace of cruciate ligament injuries. Seeing what his fellow 27-year-old was going through helped Jenkins to put his own situation into sharp perspective and he is encouraged by the news that Snyman might be returning to the field of play sooner rather than later.

“We’d sit together on the weekends and watch all the games and I’ll feel bad if I complain. I’d rather just stay quiet because he’s been through hell in the last two years. In terms of his knee and off-field things,” Jenkins added.

“I’m really hoping to see him back on the field soon and just to see him crack on. It’s frustrating for him, he wanted to go there and make an impact and he just hasn’t been able to do that.”