While Ireland are without several big-name players this summer, the returning Hugo Keenan gave Andy Farrell reason to smile in Saturday’s dramatic 33-31 win over Australia in Sydney.

With much of the pre-match focus on Farrell handing Jamie Osborne a surprising run-out on the left wing, Keenan’s first Ireland appearance in 16 months flew under the radar.

Osborne had deputised superbly at full-back for the injured Keenan in the Six Nations, scoring four tries in five starts as Ireland won the Triple Crown.

But such is the esteem in which Keenan is held, he immediately slotted back into the 15 jersey for the start of the Nations Championship.

After his British and Irish Lions heroics in Australia last year, Keenan underwent hip surgery and was set to return in time for the Six Nations, only for a fractured thumb in a training ground incident to extend his spell on the sidelines.

Having watched Mack Hansen star at full-back against Australia in November before Osborne’s impressive Six Nations campaign, Keenan looked determined to tighten his grip on the 15 jersey during a man-of-the-match display on Saturday.

Characteristically solid in the air and sharp with ball in hand, Keenan shone at both ends of the field.

It was his crucial intervention that stopped Australia surging into a 31-12 lead before half-time when he hauled Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii down in front of the Irish tryline.

It wasn’t the Leinster back’s only defensive contribution, but it came at a critical time when the game was in danger of slipping away from the Irish, and laid the platform from which Jamison Gibson-Park scored Ireland’s third try to leave just five points between the sides at the break.

Then, seven minutes after the restart, Keenan scored Ireland’s fourth, elusively slipping between two Wallaby defenders after Garry Ringrose’s offload.

In a see-saw game that went to the wire, the 30-year-old’s contributions did not go unnoticed.

“Hugo Keenan was just so important, a proper game changer in that game,” Ireland and Ulster centre James Hume said on the Ireland Rugby Social., external

“It was 33-31 and you had a guy who made three last-ditch tackles and a great try as well, a great line for that try under the sticks.

“You have players like that in your team who show up in big games like that and they can be the difference.”

With fly-half Jack Crowley, key prop Andrew Porter and captain Caelan Doris among those sidelined, this month’s Nations Championship fixtures against Australia, Japan and New Zealand offer Farrell the chance to build depth.

And with the World Cup just over a year away, former Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray is pleased with where the squad sits before returning to Australia next year for another crack at the sport’s showpiece.

“We spoke about it being proven over the Six Nations when we had to select different front rows or centres,” said former Ireland and Lions scrum-half Conor Murray.

“It’s so pleasing to see because there were questions of the Irish team, people saying there wasn’t the strength in depth we need.

“But now we have three or four players in each position who can go out and perform. That was the beautiful thing about the Six Nations.”

He added: “When [Tadhg] Furlong was out injured and Tom Clarkson came in, you’re aware of the media chat that Furlong is the lock in the team and without him we’re under pressure, but Clarkson has come on so well underneath Tadhg and has become a serious player.”