Charlie Atkinson can see the funny side now.

“I mean, I met my hero,” he says smilingly.

Atkinson is remembering his second Prem appearance, back in September 2020. He was 18 years old. He had been ushered straight into the Wasps first team as squads were stretched to fulfil a condensed post-lockdown fixture list

Atkinson had just come off the bench against Saracens when, having fielded a kick downfield, he was blindsided by Owen Farrell’s reckless, high tackle. Atkinson was left unconscious on the Stonex pitch as the referee showed red.

Farrell was instantly contrite, waiting on the touchline to check on Atkinson and then visiting him again in the dressing room.

The incident, as with anything involving Farrell, attracted attention and debate.

“It definitely put my name out there,” adds Atkinson.

“It was obviously accidental, but as it was a concussion I was sent home for the week, I didn’t play again that season. It was probably a good thing, slowing down so that at 18, I could just focus on training and getting used to men’s rugby.”

Atkinson is good at seeing the upside. He has had to be. Perspective comes with experience and he has been through plenty already in his rugby career.

Three days after his 21st birthday, having established himself as his boyhood club’s first-choice fly-half, he unknowingly played in Wasps’ final ever game, a dramatic 40-36 defeat by Northampton.

“We’d seen a few rumours on Twitter that week but nothing major and we hadn’t heard anything from the owner or CEO, so we just thought ‘we’ll be alright’,” he says.

“It was a wasn’t even really in the back of my mind.

“That next Tuesday or Wednesday they broke the news that our jobs were gone. It was obviously very sad, it was the only club I ever knew.”

After Wasps went into administration in October 2022, Gloucester and Harlequins made approaches to sign Atkinson. But he was convinced by a meeting with Steve Borthwick, who had just steered Leicester to the Premiership title and was offering the security of a longer deal.

Atkinson duly signed up with Tigers. Borthwick and assistant Kevin Sinfield departed for England two months later.

Under new boss Dan McKellar, Atkinson endured a difficult year at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, shunted to the fringes.

Still, he had just completed on a house purchase in Leicester, when, a week later, his agent informed him Gloucester had agreed a deal to take him to Kingsholm.

Finally, despite the upheaval, he has found a home.

“I’m just forever grateful for Gloucester for coming in then because who knows where I could have ended up if I’d stayed at the Tigers,” he says.

“I love coming in here every day. There is a great, young core of guys, we made some great signings in the summer and everyone’s mates with everyone. It’s just a great feeling at the minute.”

Gloucester, who finished eighth last season, have started this campaign like a train.

Buoyed by the arrival of Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake, Jean Kleyn and others, they combined heft up front with deft hands out back to beat Prem finalist Exeter on the opening day, before flattening Harlequins 48-0 in front of a bouncing home crowd.

The Cherry and Whites sit in an unaccustomed position on the top of the Prem pile.

Up next, on Friday night, is a return to Leicester for Atkinson.

After the match, he will meet up with Jack van Poortvliet, Freddie Steward and others who he became mates with during his time at Tigers.

Such is Atkinson’s form, he could be spending more time with them in England camps.

Munster, who earned an impressive bonus-point win over the Bulls last weekend, are boosted by captain Tadhg Beirne’s return from injury.

Having missed the end of last season through injury before featuring for Ireland over the summer, British and Irish Lions second row Beirne returns as one of nine changes made by head coach Clayton McMillan.

Props Jeremy Loughman and Kieran Brookes return to join Marnus van der Merwe in the front row, while Jack O’Donoghue, Alex Kendellen and Gavin Coombes form an entirely changed back row.

Ben O’Connor and Alex Nankivell return at full-back and outside centre respectively, while JJ Hanrahan is reinstalled at fly-half.

Charlie O’Shea, 20, is named among the replacements after starring on his first against the Bulls last week.

“JJ Hanrahan was excellent against Glasgow in round one and I was really impressed with how he managed the end game against Bulls last week,” said McMillan.

“It has been a whirlwind for Charlie O’Shea, it’s hard to believe that it’s less than two months since he pitched up with us. He hasn’t missed a beat and gets another opportunity this weekend as a replacement.”

Ulster: McIlroy; Baloucoune, Benson, McCloskey, Stockdale; Murphy, Doak; O’Sullivan, Stewart (capt), Knox, Donnell, Snyman, Izuchukwu, Timoney, Augustus.

Replacements: Walker, O’Toole, McAllister, McNabney, McCann, Devine, Flannery, Mullins.

Munster: O’Connor; Daly, Nankivell, Kelly, O’Brien; Hanrahan, Casey; Loughman, Van der Merwe, Brookes; O’Connell, Beirne (capt); O’Donoghue, Kendellen, Coombes.

Replacements: Barron, Wycherley, Aungier, Ahern, Gleeson, O’Donovan, O’Shea, Hodnett.

“I knew I was going to have penalty,” Russell said. ‘The plan was always to go in Austin, and obviously Singapore is the second hardest track to overtake on on the calendars. So you would never choose to do it (here).

“But we have no engines because of all of the various failures, so there was no engine I could have reverted to from earlier in the season. With the failure I had to take it.

“We don’t have the (upgrade) this weekend, and because there are seven races remaining, you can either choose to roll the dice and hope it lasts for seven races, but also suffer a performance offset (as the engine degrades), or just accept I’ll be taking another penalty.”

Antonelli will also likely have another back-of-the-grid penalty when the upgraded engine is introduced, following his previous one at the Italian Grand Prix, which he won from 19th on the grid.

Russell will also be reverting to an older specification car in Singapore this weekend.

Mercedes introduced an aerodynamic upgrade in Malaysia last weekend, but it did not give the car the performance uplift expected.

So in an attempt to prove whether that was because of idiosyncrasies to do with the Sepang track or a problem with the upgrade itself, Mercedes is splitting the specification of their cars.

Russell will drive the specification with which he won in Azerbaijan, the week before Malaysia, while Antonelli will run the new spec.

Russell said: “I actually asked a question already on Friday in Sepang. At the end of the day it’s the car I’m reverting to is a car that was on pole by 0.8secs and Kimi won the race before, so it’s important to remember the context. It’s not like reverting back to a launch car.

“Given the circumstances of the grid penalty as well, it just seemed like a no-brainer. For me, unfortunately we’re not going to be fighting for a podium this weekend, it’s exceptionally unlikely, so it’s more important for us to try and understand, was Malaysia a one-off or was it the upgrade?”