WITH HIS 29th birthday on Saturday, prop Eric O’Sullivan is by no means at a pensionable age for his position while it also helps that the Dublin native is now delivering again for his long-adopted province six years after debuting for Ulster.
It has not been the smoothest of paths for the one-time capped Ireland international, injuries, loss of form or just simply not being given huge amounts of gametime have all contributed to the loosehead prop’s lot in recent times though now the durable and mobile O’Sullivan is back in the frame again even if this has undoubtedly been helped by Steven Kitshoff’s early departure.
So far, this season, O’Sullivan has featured in five of Ulster’s six games, starting in three of them and he is in line to be involved for tomorrow evening’s home interprovincial with Leinster as the URC returns from a month’s break.
As for his form in this campaign, O’Sullivan cites his ability to have put in a full pre-season as being vital for him while also being a rarity.
“It has probably been one of the first pre-seasons for a long time that I have been fit and available for, I have had a couple of shoulder operations in previous years, so I missed pre-seasons,” explains the player who has over 100 caps for Ulster.
“I think actually getting a block of training was good for me and hopefully that keeps going.”
In terms of how the player – who is also scrum coach for Ulster Women – is benefiting from his pre-season for this campaign, O’Sullivan states: “I think as a prop you’re not dying on the pitch; you’re not gasping for air; you are actually able to look up and see what is happening as opposed to just trying to survive.
“I definitely think a full pre-season is good for everybody, you can work on your craft, you can get better at your skills but it’s just about getting fit.”
As for the return to URC action with unbeaten leaders Leinster coming to the Kingspan Stadium, he adds: “It doesn’t matter if their (Leinster’s) internationals are away, they will still have a stacked team, they still have quality individuals.
“We know what to expect going into the weekend but we’re looking forward (to it) with hopefully a spicy edge.
“Being from Dublin I don’t think that adds anything for me personally, I love it up here and here is home for me at the minute,” he adds of facing his native province after a dozen or so previous encounters with them.
If it has been the other way around the saffers would have spent weeks giving press conferences about how they were blatantly disrespected.
Move on…
Lucky we didn’t do that to the Boks in any shape or form …
@damien reidy: we’d still be listening to their moaning if we did
Could we get Ryanair to do an Aviva flyover for the November international against the All blacks ? Michael O’Leary could release a statement about how there was no problem with the noise.
@Noel Roe: great idea , it would be the first bit of atmosphere in that stadium since the saffas took over in Nov 22.
@Stuart: Allways atmosphere at irish home games
@NICE GUY: And fans as well
@Stuart: Excuse me .. there was a great atmosphere when tay-tay played there not too long ago !
@Noel Roe: OMG! Referencing the swifties or Tay Tay , the inner 14 year old girl in me agrees. Unreal atmosphere..You win ..
So, a non-story, basically.
You’d wonder how much longer New Zealand are going to bother doing a haka at away games given the ever-increasing propensity for inebriated home fans to try to drown it out, having adopted the English fans’ deluded belief that they are ‘answering a challenge’