WHAT IT'S LIKE TO ...GO ON TOUR WITH EMERGING IRELAND

Munster's Ben O'Connor tells RW about the eye-opening trip to South Africa

- Pat McCarry

BEN O’CONNOR made a big call about his sporting future last year, and passed up a promising hurling career to chase his rugby dream. He helped Cork to two All-Ireland hurling titles, at minor and U20 level, before committing himself to Munster.

“It was a massive decision,” O’Connor reflects. “It took me a lot of time to come to it, just from talking to family and friends. I ended up making the call myself. To be honest, I’ve never looked back or regretted it. Now, sure, you’d always miss playing a bit of hurling on weekends. But I still go to a lot of the Barr’s games, my club in Cork (St Finbarr’s). I’m over the moon about my decision. I’m going well now, at the moment. I love the atmosphere around being a professional athlete.”

Two weeks after O’Connor turned 19, he made his senior Munster debut during a home victory over Dragons. The young full-back managed five senior appearances, including two in the Champions Cup, against Bayonne and Exeter, and lined up ten times for Ireland U20. We caught up with O’Connor in Bloemfontein to get a taste of touring life with the Emerging Ireland side…

“We found out about a week in advance,” O’Connor begins. “Got an email informing us we had been selected, and congratulating us. I was training with the Munster lads at Thomond Park on the day we found out about selection.

“I came up from Cork with Danny Sheahan and Sean Edogbo. A few of the other Munster lads car-pooled up from Limerick. Everyone was really excited and couldn’t wait to get into camp, to get a feel for everything and get kick-started.