Court’s in dreamland with Ulster and Ireland

AFTER months of excitement, Tom Court is looking forward to more drama as the battle for the RBS Six Nations Championship unfolds and he firmly believes that Ireland will match the best.

Court has come far in international rugby; he still has to pinch himself when remembering the role he played in Ireland’s Grand Slam victory two seasons ago and in Ulster’s prolific rise in the current Heineken Cup.

And even though Munster have failed to qualify for the knock out stages of the premier European competition, Court was keen to remind the doubters that they’re still in the melting pot for Amlin Cup success.

In short, he reckoned that, given Leinster’s brilliance as well, there was a general spring in the step of all the Irish players (non-injured) who moved from province to national camp over the last couple of days.

On Munster’s Heineken cup exit last weekend, Court said: “It hasn’t happened for a while I guess and it is hard (for us) to get too cocky or anything; I mean those boys (Munster) have done it for the previous 12 years. It’s nice that the shoe is on the other foot (for us to qualify) but they’ll (Munster) probably go on and win the Amlin now.

“You can’t get too ahead of yourself but it’s just nice to be winning. It’s my fifth season now, for me it was just a struggle to get into the team to start with and then we just built and built. To go from where we were when I first came over to where we are now is brilliant.”

Court spoke of Ulster’s victory away to Bath as being the catalyst for their progression from a group just about won by Biarritz. “That was the game we targeted,” he said.

“The Bath away game was the one we knew we had to win to keep the head of steam up and leading into the Biarritz home fixture we needed that confidence as well.”

Honesty appears to be one of Court’s hidden strengths; he acknowledges there are areas of his game upon which he needs to work.

“Obviously, I would love to be in the (Irish) team for the five fixtures and to get a starting berth in a couple of them would be fantastic, but without looking too far ahead that might be a little bit ambitious,” he said.

But Court has clearly been one of the front row forwards to impress Declan Kidney’s coaching staff most; he is, for instance, being kept in senior camp rather than being given further game time with the Wolfhounds.

With Court’s ability to play on both sides of the scrum, the obvious question to ask is which he prefers – a tough question when versatility has been one of his strengths.

“Everyone wants to start and you need to get a good run of games on one side or another and be able to push (for a place) on one side or another.”

Mind you, when asked whether he would be in competition with either Cian Healy or Mike Ross for a starting place against Italy, Court remarked “When I work that one out, I’ll let you know!”