JUDE POSTLETHWAITE HAS had to be patient across this U20 Six Nations championship, but that’s nothing new to him.

The Ulster centre sat out the opening two wins over Wales and France, before coming back into the team which beat Italy in round three. He knows good things can come to those who wait.

Postlethwaite remembers finishing up at The Royal Belfast Academical Institution and watching all his mates move into the Ulster Rugby Academy, just before Covid put age grade rugby on hold. 

The 19-year-old has described that period as “a pretty low time”, but things have since picked up for the talented centre.

Postlethwaite eventually followed his old friends into the Ulster Academy and is thought of highly within the province, as evident in the new contract he recently put his name to. The Lisburn native has moved up to a one-year development contract, and will then progress on to a three-year senior deal. 

In between, he’s represented Ireland on the World Sevens stage and is currently back in camp for a second shot at the U20 Six Nations, having featured four times in last year’s championship.

“It felt good to be back out there (against Italy) after being injured,” Postlethwaite says.

“U20s, I’ve been building towards this the whole year, wanting to play 20s, it’s a big part of everyone’s career. I’m really excited for the next game against England.

I put pressure on myself to play as well as I can every game to prove to people like Dan McFarland that I’m ready for an opportunity on the big stage.”

After signing that new Ulster deal, Postlethwaite made a point of singling out his mother, who hopes to travel down to Cork for the final round fixture against Scotland next week. 

“She’s supported me ever since I was younger, backed me the whole way,” he explains.

“I have a single parent mum, so it was hard for her bringing me up but she found a way to pay for me to go to a private school, one of the big rugby schools which I really developed in. She’s struggled the whole way and I’d love to bring it back to her.”

First up, Ireland are away to England tomorrow, with Richie Murphy’s squad refreshed following a weekend off after the Italy win, and reinvigorated thanks to holding some training sessions with Andy Farrell’s senior side.

No surprises about who caught Postlethwaite’s eye during those in-house sessions.

The centres, obviously you’ve got Garry Ringrose and Bundee and Henshaw. I was looking at them during the whole session, picking up key points they were doing. I feel like the whole team took a lot out of it as well, just the way the seniors play, that’s what we’re trying to paint a picture of.

“We’ve definitely been building (over the last three games). The last week against the seniors went well, we took a lot from it, and then the Italy game, reviewing it we were pretty disappointed, we missed quite a few chances. We’re wanting to improve on it moving into England.”

Training with the Ulster senior side, Postlethwaite has also been working hard on his own game, with his experiences playing Sevens helping to sharpen some of the rougher edges for the pacey centre.

“I feel like you have to be more patient in Sevens on D. I also feel like rucking as well, it improves that quite a lot since I was playing forward.

“(Then) Just the basics, my passing and stuff. You do take a lot out of it even though sometimes you feel like you don’t. It was good to play in front of a big crowd in Dubai, which helps coming into the 20s.” 

Ireland head into the England game top of the U20 Six Nations table, the only side to win their three opening games.

“They’re very good ball-carriers, so that’ll be a threat to us. Overall England are a physical team, we need to match them and try and play around that as well. That’s what we’ve been looking at this week.”

Comedian Michael Fry is our special guest on this week’s episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness. Joining host Seán Burke, Eimear Considine and Murray Kinsella, he chats about his family’s rugby background and his short-lived playing days, before using his musical ear to rank the anthems of each Guinness Six Nations team. Click here to subscribe or listen below:

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