Finally, at the age of 27, it’s happening for Tommy O’Brien. He has become the kind of international winger he’s long looked capable of being and is now part of the Irish team.
Sitting at a table outside the High Performance Centre in The Campus on a slightly chilly, grey day in Quinta Do Lago, O’Brien is in rarefied air among the Irish squad at their pre-Six Nations training base.
There were times when even he doubted if this might happen, but having turned 27 last May as an uncapped player, next Thursday comes perhaps the biggest game of his career yet – a Six Nations debut against France in Paris.
It’s been quite the turnaround from what he has known in his pro career. Where previously he has been trying to break into the Leinster frontline team, or working his way back from injury, now he is an elite Leinster and Irish player.
This has been a different season for him. For one thing, his game time is managed and this is the first time O’Brien has been named in a Six Nations squad.
Now that this is finally coming to pass, for all the injury woes, in another sense it seems like his destiny. For starters, he’s steeped in Blackrock College.
“Yeah, my dad [Michael] loved his time there and my uncle [Pauo] would have loved his time there. I guess I was indoctrinated as a kid.
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