There has been an international flair to Les Kiss' time at the Queensland Reds - with post season seeing tours to Japan and Europe, and Tests against international sides like Wales.
However, the Reds coach sees the chance to go toe-to-toe with the British & Irish Lions on July 2 as one that few who have pulled on a maroon jersey have had the chance to do.
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"It's special, without a doubt," Kiss said to reporters on Wednesday.
"Talking with the other coaches, the coaching team, all the staff in our professional department, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
"When you look through the history of the Reds versus the British and Irish Lions, there's probably been 130 or 140 players only that have represented the jersey against the British and Irish Lions.
"It's a unique and special group of people who have the opportunity to do that as a player. But from a staffing perspective and the management, we're excited as well, it ranks up there as one of the great occasions."
Kiss has had an inside line on which players plan to be available for both the Wallabies and their provincial sides, with a national camp taking place at Ballymore earlier this week.
While the Force will likely have access to the majority of their stars when the take the field to face the Lions for the first match of the tour, Kiss and the other sides are expected to have a clear indication of who will be available before the end of the week, with the squad announcement set for tomorrow.
"We've had long discussions with all the players that were involved," Kiss added.
"We'll have a good understanding about the bulk of our side probably by Friday.
"That decision will be made by Joe [Schmidt] over the next 24-48 hours in terms of their placement in that bigger squad or not. However, if they are in the bigger squad, there is chances that some of those guys can come back as well.
"I know RA are working behind closed doors to try and get that balance right. There will also be the component of having Wallabies needing to be exposed to more game time and those types of things.
"All those things will be sorted out. It does help that we've got the Argentinian match, we've got the Force, ourselves and then AUNZ later on. It's a nice little process that I've got ahead of me."
Preparation for such a unique fixture comes with plenty of challenges - but before the Brumbies defeat of the Lions on the 2013 tour, the Reds were the last provincial side to down the Lions, all the back in 1971.
However, Kiss believes that even with some Wallabies missing, he expects the Reds to be able to push the visitors - and may pull a few tricks of his own from his time in Ireland.
"We've got a line of sight this weekend," Kiss explained.
"They play Argentina in Dublin, then they play the Force before we play them. They are an incredibly good, talented team. They'll be taking a lot of the DNA of what the Irish do, obviously with Andy Farrell there and Easterby and a few other coaches from their system.
"We're going to have to be very good at the breakdown. That's going to be a battle and we've got to make sure we can meet those challenges, but we'll put our brand out there as well.
"We'll keep backing ourselves in what we do with the ball. We know some areas that we need to attend to and we'll make sure we get in front of those over the next fortnight.
"It's a fair dinkum ding-dong battle. The boys are excited. I am, the coaching staff are."
The Reds coach also admitted that tapping into the underdog approach - that the expectation for the Lions to win the fixture and wider series plays into the Queensland side's hands.
"There's no doubt we're going to be the underdogs, that's for sure, but why not tap into it?" Kiss asked.
"I think the boys just get back on the bike straight away.
"They're hungry, they're focused, they're committed. Those are the ingredients for us to get out in the training paddock and do well and build a plan and back ourselves.
"We've had improved crowds, our game is still strong and it's going to have to be a bit stronger against the British and Irish lines, but we're looking forward to that."
