The Munster wing is set to embark on his 11th November international series this evening when the 31-year-old will earn his 71st Test cap against Argentina as the Guinness Series gets under way at Aviva Stadium.

A week ago, he and other senior players watched from the sofas as an inexperienced Ireland side put a similarly callow Italian XV to the sword in a 54-7 drubbing at Chicago’s Soldier Field.

There will have been a timely reminder served that no-one’s place is guaranteed in a Joe Schmidt matchday squad.

It has been the head coach’s mission since that painful World Cup quarter-final exit to the Pumas in 2015 to add layer after layer of depth under his frontline elite so as not to revisit the scene in Cardiff that night, when a number of injuries and a suspension to key personnel left his side badly exposed.

Earls would not have it any other way and of the current squad, he said: “We’re just constantly keeping each other on our toes. Some fellas can crumble, but I think it brings the best out in all of us and we get the best out of each other.

“It’s that added pressure, that you can’t switch off for one second, you can’t try to take a bit of a breather on the field, because coaches watch everything.

“When you’re not involved on the ball, they watch everything, your body language... so it keeps you on high alert for 80-plus minutes.”

It is 10 years and two days since Earls made his Test debut as a 21-year-old full-back, scoring a try against Canada at the newly redeveloped Thomond Park in a 55-0 hammering that got Declan Kidney’s reign off to a flying start.

However, it is cap number 32, won six years ago to the day, that stands out for him when asked about changes in terms of squad depth.

“It’s phenomenal. November 2012; I hadn’t played for four or five weeks and I ended up starting against South Africa. If it was nowadays, you’ve two or three fellas who can easily slot in. You wouldn’t even get in the squad, never mind the team!

“From the last World Cup, that’s what got us, we lost a lot of players, but now we have four or five fellas who could easily come in in any position. You saw it in the [2018] Six Nations when Robbie (Henshaw) got injured [against Italy], Chris (Farrell) got injured and all of a sudden Garry Ringrose is playing.

“It’s credit to the coaches, credit to the players and the depth we have. There are a lot of fellas putting their hands up, and we are constantly looking over our shoulders at what’s coming, but you have to have confidence within yourself and within the team, that you can find a balance to get ahead of the team, as well.”

Earls knows the perils of being on the outside looking in, having missed last November’s Guinness Series, thanks to a torn hamstring and then seeing Jacob Stockdale take to Test rugby like a duck to water.

That fate may have repeated itself this time around had Earls been his younger self and not heeded the warning signs of a tight hamstring as he warmed up for Munster at Exeter Chiefs last month, withdrawing and allowing Darren Sweetnam to take his place on the wing.

“It was not as serious when it happened in Exeter. It is just from knowing my body so well and my experience, I knew I was just on the borderline of completely tearing it.”

I felt it and I probably could have gone after the first kick off, but that would have been it and we’d have been down a sub straightaway. It was a hard enough thing to do, to step away, but at least Sweets came in and it was an all right result in the end.”

It was a decision he might not have made as a 22-year-old and part of the reason the new IRFU contract he signed last month was never in doubt.

“Beforehand, you might have been ignorant, thinking you were a hard man, going out and playing when sometimes stepping back is best for the team. That comes with experience and I felt it was best for the team.”

To the sign the new deal, he added, “was great, especially with a year still left on [the current deal]. This will take me to 34, it potentially could be my last one, but for me, at my age, it would have been silly to go abroad.

“I love playing for Munster and I love playing for Ireland. Body-wise, physically, mentally and off the field, Ireland and our provinces look after you so well. That was a massive factor, the way I’m looked after here. It’s my home and I don’t want to play anywhere else.”