I’m ready to answer autumn call, says Jack Conan

It’s been a long time since Jack Conan looked ill at ease in any jersey, but the Leinster back row couldn’t help but fidget and squirm in the new Ireland number he was asked to sport at the kit’s launch on Dublin’s southside.

He isn’t the first in that. It’s an old trick of the trade to shoehorn players into jerseys a size too small for these promotional gigs: a particularly cruel trick to play on professionals still shedding the last of the summer excess in pre-season training.

Still, he’s breathing easier by the time the snaps are done with and more than willing to talk about the season to come and the one left behind when a rare injury to Jamie Heaslip opened up doors for him at both club and international levels.