Jamison Gibson-Park is 34 and, thankfully, playing as well as ever. He’s spent the last 10 years of his life as a Leinster player, and the last six of those playing for Ireland. His 215 games for province and adopted country dwarfs his 75 matches for Taranaki, the Hurricanes and the Blues. He’s much more a product of the Irish rugby system than the New Zealand system.What’s more, he and his Kiwi-born wife Patti Grogan have lived in Ireland for the last decade. Their eldest daughter Isabella was born in New Zealand, while her younger sister, Iris, and younger brother Jai were born in Ireland. Gibson-Park also became an Irish citizen in 2023. Yet he was born on the Great Barrier Island, about 90km northeast of Auckland. He lived the first 24 years of his life in New Zealand. So there’s always a curiosity factor around the Irish scrumhalf when he comes back to New Zealand. Accordingly, he was asked if this felt like coming home, or if home is now Ireland.“It’s a bit of a strange one,” he said. “I suppose all my family is out on Great Barrier Island so there’s a bit of a sense of home out there for sure. But I suppose on the other hand, I’ve been in Ireland for 10 years, pretty well settled with children being born over there and everything. So there’s definitely a sense of home in both places for sure.”As to where he and his family will settle down, Gibson-Park said: “It’s a tough one to say. I’ll have to ask my wife.”Gibson-Park hasn’t set foot on New Zealand soil since the Irish tour in 2022. “It’s always cool to be back,” he said, indicating that it’s an opportunity to see family and friends from the Great Barrier Island, as well as catching up with friends from his time with the Hurricanes and the Blues.“There’s people coming out of the woodwork looking for tickets and all that kind of thing.”Jamison Gibson-Park is back in New Zealand with Ireland for the first time since the victorious 2022 tour. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho Ireland are in Auckland for Saturday’s Nations Championship match against the All Blacks. It means Gibson-Park’s three years with the Auckland Blues is a natural go-to conversation point.“It was great, man. I’ve got loads of family around here, so there was that family connection. And I’ve still got a lot of good mates from those days as well. We had some great times. Although the footy wasn’t going too well, we still managed to have a good time here and there.“I have some fond memories of that time. There were some pretty incredible people in that group. When you look through it, we had a wicked team on paper, but we just weren’t able to translate it onto the field. That was a bit of a shame, but like I say, I’ve still got some fond memories of those days, for sure.”Gibson-Park then spent one season with the Hurricanes as back-up scrumhalf in their Super Rugby-winning campaign. Ten years on, they’ve won that title again.The 2022 tour ended in a 2-1 series win but, of course, began with a 42-19 defeat to the All Blacks in Eden Park. Ireland scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park at the Pullman Hotel in Auckland, New Zealand. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho “I think we didn’t really get off the plane,” he said, reflecting on that comprehensive defeat. “We struggled, but I suppose the best thing about it was we were able to turn around a week later and get a result. But we’re under no illusions as to how tough it’s going to be. They have the streak for a reason, it’s a very tough place to win. So we’ll have our work cut out for us for sure.”He agrees that he’s a completely different player from the one who left New Zealand a decade ago.“Yeah, I think it’s fair to say. Chalk and cheese. When I think back to my early playing days and just even my mindset towards the game, it was, you know, mentally different. Things move on with experience and that kind of thing, but 100 per cent a different player, yeah.”Though he’s the least likely player to blow his own trumpet, Gibson-Park has become a better player. “Well, my mindset first of all [has changed]. Whether it was to do with my upbringing or what, I was just kind of lackadaisical about things, you know. So I didn’t start to take the game seriously until I was probably into my late 20s, when I really kind of knuckled down and that changed a lot for me, so that’s probably the main thing."Perhaps, too, the relative lack of game time in the Hurricanes and Blues has contributed to his longevity. Jamison Gibson-Park at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, Australia, during preparation for last Saturday's Nations Championship match against Japan, which Ireland won 36-20. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho “Yeah, certainly to do with my body and that kind of thing, but even my mentality towards the game. Like I say, I haven’t played a whole lot of footy. I debuted internationally when I was 28, so yeah, I hope so.”And a little chip on the shoulder from those tougher times may have helped too.“Yeah, for sure. Like I touched on, things probably didn’t go too well for us at the Blues and we struggled. And then, you know, Chris Boyd threw me a lifeline, really, to go down to the Canes and I was on a wider contract down there and I hadn’t even played any footy before I’d penned a deal at Leinster, so it was just kind of the way that things worked out.“It wasn’t all singing or dancing. It took me a while to find my feet in Leinster and that kind of thing as well, so by no means was it straight up and down.”