FORMER IRELAND INTERNATIONAL Andrew Trimble believes fellow winger Robert Baloucoune is “ticking every box” and could go on to become a superstar for both province and country if he continues on his current momentum.
The Ulster flier, still just 24, burst onto the international scene over the summer when he scored a try on his debut against the USA, with his burgeoning talent recognised even before that with a development call-up to Andy Farrell’s squad for the shortened 2020 Six Nations.
Having taken a rather circuitous route to the top of the 15s game via junior rugby and the Sevens set-up rather than the traditional schools rugby and Academy pathway, Baloucoune has rapidly proved he is a winger with an X-factor about him with ball in hand, while also being a reliable defender without.
And Trimble, who has plenty of experience in an Ireland jersey having won 70 caps himself, believes the Enniskillen man will be a permanent fixture in Ireland squads going forward here on out.
“He’s just ticking every box along the way and that’s very encouraging for where he’s going. Every question that’s asked of him he answers them effortlessly. I’d be very excited about his future and what’s ahead,” praised Trimble.
“Baloucoune has that raw material, he’s an incredible athlete. Everything’s just fitting into place for him, he seems to be the full package. He seems to be receptive, he’s smart and looks street-wise. He looks like an experienced winger and he’s not that experienced, so that shows how good he can be.
“He’s got his toe in the door and had that experience with the international set-up. I don’t even think you can say he’s made that step-up to international rugby yet, he’s been called up once and it wasn’t a Six Nations game or even an Autumn Internationals game against Tier 1 opposition – that would be the next step.
“There’s no reason to believe he won’t make that step-up though. I think he will and I think he’ll do it effortlessly.”
Indeed, but for a horribly timed hamstring injury coming out of lockdown then Baloucoune’s trajectory could be even steeper as, between the pandemic and his rehab, he didn’t play a competitive fixture for just under a year and then found himself trying to play catch-up at the end of the 2020/21 season.
Perhaps what was even more frustrating, as Trimble outlines, is that coming out of lockdown it was widely believed within the Ulster squad that the former Sevens international had taken his game to another level and was ready to become a real leader at Kingspan Stadium.
“There’s a number of phases to his development. The first phase was seeing his raw athleticism, and that was when I was playing. He was coming through and people were talking about how fast he was and that was it – here’s this guy who’s incredibly fast. They don’t always work out so, if that’s all there is to him, I wouldn’t be massively hopeful,” admits the Coleraine man.
“But he seemed to exhibit a massive amount of maturity on the pitch: I’m talking about his defensive understanding and playing with space and dictating to whoever was kicking or passing in the opposition where they had to go. A number of times in games he looked so wise and a guy who isn’t just fast, there’s a lot more to him.
“And then the next phase was the pre-season before he got injured. I know from chatting to the guys a lot of them said he was like someone who always stands out. Nobody said that, I’m not putting words in anybody’s mouth, but it just felt that Baloucoune was stand-out during that pre-season. Pre-season is very intimate, you have long days, you get to see what guys are like during that long period and it asks a lot of guys and he was stand-out.
“From hearing that from guys, I was very excited to see how he started that season but that was the season he picked up the hamstring injury. Then you’re thinking this is another phase in his development. That’s a really tricky injury to come back from but he did, and he got back looking sharp straight away, stepped up to international and took his opportunity.”
Baloucoune will slot into a very talented Ulster back line for this weekend’s United Rugby Championship opener against Glasgow Warriors at Kingspan Stadium, where is expected to be joined by fellow Ireland summer call-ups Will Addison, Billy Burns, James Hume, Michael Lowry, Stuart McCloskey and Jacob Stockdale.
It is an embarrassment of riches for Dan McFarland to work with, and Trimble laughs when asked if he would want to be playing in this back line – “Honestly, no!” – but does admit it is the area he is most looking forward to seeing this season.
“That’s the area to be very excited about, isn’t it? We were talking about it earlier, about young guys coming through champing at the bit and not getting the opportunities, but it’s a young back line and there’s a lot of talent, and they’ve all shown that and stood up,” said the former winger, who will be a part of Premier Sports’ coverage of the URC this season.
“Stewart Moore’s had a couple of opportunities, he looks really good. James Hume’s done well and taken his chance with Ireland. There’s a lot going on to be very excited about a young, exciting back line. As long as they get parity up front then they’ll get the opportunity to show their talent out the backs and you should get very excited about that.
“And then it’s nice to be excited about it, but I think everybody is breathing a sigh of relief after the Lions because there’s a style of rugby that’s… this isn’t the style of rugby we fell in love with when we were teenagers.
“Now, with an Ulster back line like this… you need a (Duane) Vermeulen, you need to get those gain lines or that go forward ball, but once you get that it’s time for the backs to shine and play that style of rugby that will get Kingspan Stadium on its feet and enjoying that style of rugby again.”
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