Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
GETTING HEAD DOWN
Northampton Saints Ulster, Tomorrow, 8pm
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ULSTER prop Eric O’sullivan accepts he has work to do and improvements to make to stay on Andy Farrell’s radar and avoid becoming a one cap wonder with Ireland.
The Dubliner freely admits his club form has been patchwork since making his national debut as a replacement for Cian Healy in December’s Autumn Nations win over Scotland in Dublin (right).
It was a special moment for the late bloomer who joined
Ulster in 2017 after missing out on the Leinster Academy, but a frustrating staging post looking back.
“Definitely, that’s the nail on the head,” he said. “Getting my first cap was something I’d wanted for so long, but off the back of it, my performances haven’t been where I’d expect them to be.
“You get capped and you want to be at a level where it’s not up for debate, where you just have to be picked.
“I set high standards for myself and I’m probably not hitting where I want to be. If I want more (Ireland caps) I need to be playing to a level that’s going to get me there.”
As a former prop himself, Dan Mcfarland is perfectly placed to coach and cajole O’sullivan through the ebbs and flows of life as a front row forward. Asked about Mcfarland’s influence behind the scenes at
Ulster, the 25-year-old said: “Brilliant. He has so much knowledge and I’ve learned so much.
“We’d go through video and talk about little things that’ll make a big difference and it helps.
“It also comes down to going back to what you perceive as your strengths and doing them well. I would consider my work-rate to be one of my strengths, so that’s something I can fall back on.
“But as a front-row, your set-piece is massive and that’s something I also need to focus on.
“It’s about having the confidence to go ‘you are a good player, you deserve to be here’ and go back to what you know. The rest all feeds into it.”
While the Challenge Cup is Europe’s second tier competition, Ulster boast an added incentive of ending a long 15 year wait for silverware.
The last time the province had to update its ‘honours’ list was in 2006 when a team captained by Justin Harrison and starring David Humphreys lifted the Celtic League trophy.
Ahead of tomorrow’s quarter-final with Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens, O’sullivan said: “It’s a competition we want to win but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.
“We’re ambitious as a group but it’s about going out and backing it up.
“It’s all well and good just saying that but we need to perform as well and that starts at the weekend against a very good Northampton team.”