Tom O’Toole’s long road (and air miles) to Ireland honours

The prospect of an Irish U20s jersey must have seemed a distant dream to a 16-year-old Tom O’Toole, as he looked out the window of Campbell College, in Belfast, on his first night at the school, and thought about the family he had left 10,000 miles behind, in Australia.

Born in Drogheda, the Ulster tighthead prop spent some time in Meath, before upping sticks to Brisbane with his family, when he was seven.

A Gaelic footballer and soccer devotee in Ireland, he followed in his two elder brothers’ footsteps by enrolling at St Patrick’s College, in Brisbane.