Fanning: Playing for Leinster 'a dream come true'

Darragh Fanning has said it is a dream come true to be part of the Leinster squad this season.

The St Mary’s wing who is back from Australia has played twice under new coach Matt O’Connor and is hoping to nail down a place in the squad before the experienced internationals and Lions come back into contention.

Fanning who had a comfortable semi-professional, two-year deal Down Under with Tuggeranong Vikings has played before with Connacht in the Pro 12 and Amlin Cup, and was also captain at St Mary’s.

The Dubliner said: "This time last year I was in Bali with a friend after finishing a season in Australia and I was working on my tan but never did I think I’d be here I UCD training and have two Leinster caps under my belt.

“After I came off Connacht originally I went to Australia to play for the Vikings with Sean McCarthy who had coached me here with St Mary’s and he gave me an opportunity to go down there on a short term deal because I was released so late by Connacht.

He added: "I came back here and looked at my options and looked at the big picture – I had a few offers to go to play in the Championship in England and France but I stepped back and looked at it and thought I was 26 at the time and thought professional rugby was over for me and went back to Australia.”

Fanning played the whole 80 minutes for Matt O’Connor’s side in the 29 all draw against Ospreys in the RDS on Saturday and even with the result the Wing is enjoying the experience.

“Personally I’m happy enough obviously at the weekend we were very disappointed with the draw in the end. From the position we were in, in the first half the game was there for the winning, after going a man down with 10 minutes to go and seven points down, we’d have taken the draw but we came back into it but we let the game slip.”

He found himself very lucky at the start of the season when he got a contract extension after he had signed a training contract until the pre-season game against Northampton but after that extended it after first being denied and his current deal at the Pro 12 Champions runs out in January 2014.

“I’m loving every opportunity I get, at the weekend it was amazing to run out in the RDS it was so much different than anything I’ve ever experienced before and when (Richardt) Strauss ran in for the early try the roar was amazing.”

Darragh’s first major piece of competition in the squad will be against Australian superstar Lote Tuqiri, whose work permit is expected to be approved this week.

“I’m really looking forward to playing with him in competition and hopefully I can learn something from him. Lote has played a lot of international rugby and he’s also played league rugby too, I just want to learn from him.”

Leinster travel to Glasgow Warriors on Friday night with Fanning expected to be named in Matt O’Connor’s match-day squad.