He may have had to bide his time, but Eric O’Sullivan was always ready for his opportunity at the professional level and, once the chance came, he was never going to pass it up.
The Leinster Schools prop wasn’t offered an Academy place with his home province once he left school and instead went to Trinity to continue his studies while also playing in the All-Ireland League for their team.
After impressing at that level, the call came from Kieran Campbell to come north and play in a game for Ulster A, and nothing was going to stop O’Sullivan from accepting - literally.
“My old coach at Trinity said your opportunity always comes when you least expect it, and that was certainly the case for me as I was sick and I was preparing for exams!” explains O’Sullivan.
“I got the call from Kieran asking if I was available as they needed a prop, and of course you don’t say you’re sick or you have exams, you say yes and up you go! Fortunately it went alright!”
It certainly did. The 22-year old made his mark in the then British and Irish Cup, so much so that by the end of the 2016/17 season, there was an Academy contract on the table for the Dubliner.
When you consider that only a couple of years previous it looked like his route into the professional ranks had closed, all of O’Sullivan’s hard work had paid off and here was his first step into the senior game.
“I was delighted, pro rugby was always something I wanted to get involved with and that was my way in, so I was very thankful for that because I was getting on in years without getting anything,” he says.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind that this is what I want to do, and when you look at guys you’ve played with or against and see them going so well, you think to yourself: ‘what did I do so wrong?’
“Once I got that opportunity I knew I was ready to take it, I had worked hard for it.”
But O’Sullivan didn’t stop there though - entering the Abbey Insurance Ulster Academy was only the first step on the way to making his way into the senior ranks and, after a good year with Banbridge in Division 1B of the All-Ireland League, his hard work was rewarded again.
Catching the eye with 'Bann', nearly earning promotion to 1A with them last season, his performances at club level saw O’Sullivan training with the seniors during pre-season in the summer just gone, followed quickly by two pre-season bows against Gloucester and Wasps.
Then came the big breakthrough. When Kyle McCall unfortunately withdrew from the opening game of the season against the Scarlets, O’Sullivan was drafted onto the bench in his place and made his competitive debut as a second half replacement for Andy Warwick.
Since then, he hasn’t missed a game.
The Academy prop now has ten caps under his belt, three of which have been starts, and has come up against formidable opponents such as Stephen Archer, Dan Cole and Cedate Gomes Sa in that time.
Once more his hard work paid dividends, but not even O’Sullivan could have predicted this rapid ascent through the ranks.
“If you’d told me in the summer I’d be involved in all the games so far I wouldn’t have believed you,” he says with a slight laugh. “It’s been incredible, it’s been such a shock really. You’re obviously hopeful of getting an opportunity but I never thought it would go this well.
“It came on the back of a bit of misfortune for Kyle. He was supposed to be on the bench for the Scarlets game and had to pull out with injury, and that’s where I got my opportunity and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.
“I’m just trying to do as well as I can out there to keep that jersey, trying to do what you do in training, what you trained for over summer and then putting that into action when you get out there.”
The loosehead has been at the forefront of the youthful core that has been utilised this season, the 22-year old the first of six Academy players to make their senior debuts in the campaign so far.
They’re doing something right, too. Ulster are second in Conference B of the Guinness PRO14 after the opening block of fixtures and are still in a strong position in the Heineken Champions Cup as well.
And with a good spirit around the squad, according to O’Sullivan, the prop is confident that we’re seeing the beginning of a profitable era for the Province.
“I think we’ve been building well. We’ve had some tough fixtures but we’ve bounced back well from them and had good performances off the back of them,” insists O’Sullivan.
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement and that’s something that is really pushed home during the week - we need to push ourselves to get better because we want to be challenging at that top level, we need to keep pushing our standards and so far everyone’s driving that to a good place.
“It’s a really exciting time to be involved, a lot of us young guys are getting our opportunities and it’s great to be around because last year I’d have trained with them a lot and we weren’t getting much of a look in, but this year that’s changed.
“There’s a great atmosphere and that helps because we’re all mates at the end of the day.”
Once more his hard work paid dividends, but not even O’Sullivan could have predicted this rapid ascent through the ranks.
“If you’d told me in the summer I’d be involved in all the games so far I wouldn’t have believed you,” he says with a slight laugh. “It’s been incredible, it’s been such a shock really. You’re obviously hopeful of getting an opportunity but I never thought it would go this well.
“It came on the back of a bit of misfortune for Kyle. He was supposed to be on the bench for the Scarlets game and had to pull out with injury, and that’s where I got my opportunity and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.
“I’m just trying to do as well as I can out there to keep that jersey, trying to do what you do in training, what you trained for over summer and then putting that into action when you get out there.”
The loosehead has been at the forefront of the youthful core that has been utilised this season, the 22-year old the first of six Academy players to make their senior debuts in the campaign so far.
They’re doing something right, too. Ulster are second in Conference B of the Guinness PRO14 after the opening block of fixtures and are still in a strong position in the Heineken Champions Cup as well.
And with a good spirit around the squad, according to O’Sullivan, the prop is confident that we’re seeing the beginning of a profitable era for the Province.
“I think we’ve been building well. We’ve had some tough fixtures but we’ve bounced back well from them and had good performances off the back of them,” insists O’Sullivan.
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement and that’s something that is really pushed home during the week - we need to push ourselves to get better because we want to be challenging at that top level, we need to keep pushing our standards and so far everyone’s driving that to a good place.
“It’s a really exciting time to be involved, a lot of us young guys are getting our opportunities and it’s great to be around because last year I’d have trained with them a lot and we weren’t getting much of a look in, but this year that’s changed.
“There’s a great atmosphere and that helps because we’re all mates at the end of the day.”