Eric O'Sullivan goes back to basics in search of more Ireland caps

Excellent early season form was rewarded with a senior international debut for the loosehead off the bench in the Autumn Nations Cup last year

Eric O’Sullivan admits his performances are ‘not where I want them to be’ in recent months. ‘I have high standards for myself but I’m not hitting them at the moment.’ Picture: Getty Images

Ulster prop Eric O’Sullivan has gone back to basics in a bid to recapture the form which earned him a first Ireland cap last year.

Excellent early season form was rewarded with a senior international debut for the loosehead off the bench in the Autumn Nations Cup against Scotland in December.

However it has not all gone swimmingly since then and while the rolling maul has become one of Ulster’s chief scoring weapons, the scrum has malfunctioned with the front row under constant pressure.

O’Sullivan is now an established regular and with Jack McGrath a long-term injury absentee, the 25-year-old has already made 17 appearances this season and looking forward to making an impact in tomorrow’s Challenge Cup quarter-final away to Northampton Saints.

“It’s been a good year for me,” he says.

“Getting my cap was wonderful and something I wanted for so long, but my performances are not where I want them to be.

“I have high standards for myself but I’m not hitting them at the moment.

“I want more of that (with Ireland) so I need to be playing at a level that is going to get me back there.

“As a front row your set-piece is always going to be questioned so that is something I’m focusing on at the moment.” 

O’Sullivan has already proved his ability but has turned to experienced team-mates for a quiet word in recent times. He probably did not need to go further than the front row for guidance with the hugely experienced McGrath, Rob Herring and Marty Moore no doubt providing wise counsel during his blip in form.

“For me it comes down to what you perceive as your strengths and doing them well,” O’Sullivan says.

“I consider my work-rate to be one of my strengths to fall back on but as a front row your set piece is massive and something I have to focus on.

You have the confidence to know you are a good player and deserve to be here, and you create your own luck so if you’re working hard you hope that effort pays off.

“We have so many experienced guys in the squad who have been through it and that helps too.”

Ulster are favourites to win the Challenge Cup and thus end a 15-year wait for a trophy.

Although there are five English teams in the quarter-finals, some of the cross-channel teams have shown limited interest in Europe’s secondary club competition with Harlequins fielding a team largely made up of academy players against Ulster.

Northampton also rested around half of their first team and needed a late Tom Collins try to beat the Dragons narrowly 43-39 in the round of 16.

O’Sullivan thinks Ulster didn’t get the credit they deserved for their eight-try win over ‘Quins.

“There is a lot we can take from that game and it was not the case that Quins didn’t perform,” insisted the former Leinster Schools prop.

“We felt we performed really well and took a lot of confidence from it, especially in attack.

"We know as a pack we can put it up to Northampton up front, but we have discussed among ourselves what we need to get better at.

This is a competition we want to win. We are very ambitious to win a trophy.

“It’s a goal to be consistently competing for championships but we don’t talk about it in big weeks like this.

“We are coming up against massive opposition in Northampton so we can’t afford to be thinking like that.”