DESPITE my best efforts in alerting the Ireland selectors to my eligibility, it was a chance conversation between the then Bristol team manager Ralph Knibbs and Ireland head coach Brian Ashton that really set me on the path to what was an immensely enjoyable eight-year international career.
Before that, I’d sent a shoebox full of videos of my best clips with an accompanying letter to the IRFU but had heard nothing back. But luckily for me Brian had come down to the Mem to watch David Corkery, Paul Burke and Barry McConnell and while Ralph was sat next to him during the match, he said, “yo...