Quill hoping Eagles move will be a feather in his cap

On the same day two Southern Hemisphere products turned to Ireland for international rugby exposure, an East Cork 22-year-old was belting out the Star Spangled Banner to mark his debut for the US Eagles after slipping through the net at home.

Youghal’s John Quill upped and left Ireland early in May after failing to impress Munster enough to win a professional contract. Like New Zealander Michael Bent and South African Richardt Strauss coming from the other direction, it has already paid dividends.

Quill, who qualifies through his American mother Eileen, was supported by video evidence and encouraged by coaching staff at Dolphin, who rated him highly in his two full seasons with the club. He sent his CV to Eagles head coach Mike Tolkin and the outcome was that he was offered a trial which led to his selection on the US “A” team, winning the first of two caps at that level against Canada and Argentina a month ago.

He has now followed that up with selection on the senior squad for the three-game autumn series against Russia, Tonga and Romania, during which the Eagles will be battling for World-Cup-ranking improvement.

They went some of the way by beating Russia 42-26 in Colwyn Bay last week and Quill played the full 80 minutes. He won his second cap on Saturday in the narrow defeat to Tonga and is set to figure again next weekend against Romania.

Although a Cork IT graduate in personal training and sports science, Quill believes his future is on the pitch and not tutoring others. He tried it one way, through his flirtation with the Munster Academy, and failed; now he hopes his international exposure with the Eagles will pay dividends... sooner rather than later. He acknowledges that life with the Eagles is a struggle for those with designs on a professional career; those lucky enough to go full time have to look to Europe, Japan or to the southern hemisphere.

“Hopefully, playing at this level will attract attention. A number of the guys already have clubs in Europe and it would be great to have something happen.

“For now, I’m happy I made the move, anyway. I am keeping my fingers crossed and I’m young. I hadn’t been getting the breaks I felt I needed, despite having a couple of good seasons with Dolphin. I see this as turning a new leaf and, hopefully, it will lead to something.”

Certainly, Tolkin sees something in a youngster who prides himself on wreaking havoc at ruck time and running hard with ball in hand. Over two years, he was Dolphin’s top try scorer, being a creator as much as a destroyer.

It’s early days, but Dolphin’s experienced coach Steve Ford sees only good coming from Quill’s elevation to international rugby: “John has a fantastic opportunity now and his potential is immense.”