‘It’s going to be a good opportunity for me to learn’ – Ambitious Cormac Izuchukwu puts Tequila on hold for South Africa tour

Cormac Izuchukwu thought he’d be in Tequila, Mexico right now sampling the local wares, but the call came from Andy Farrell and his mates will have to do without him as he gets used to life in the Ireland camp in Johannesburg.

The Tullamore native’s storming finish to the season was too good for the Ireland coach to ignore and so he’s preparing for the two-Test series against the world champions.

The abandoned holiday is the clearest indicator that the 24-year-old didn’t see the call-up coming, but you only had to watch his performances at blindside for Ulster to understand why he merited a place on the squad.

Standing 2.01m and weighing in at 117kg, he has a turn of pace and excellent footwork that saw him initially recruited into the Ireland Sevens programme from Scottish club rugby before the northern province signed him in 2020.

It’s been quite a route to the Ireland squad. “It was probably playing Prem 2 in Scotland for Kelso against teams you’ve probably never heard of or ever will,” he smiles when asked what was the furthest point from here.

“I was 18, went over, got 50 quid a week in a brown envelope and I was living in a town of like 3,000, travelling all over Scotland.”

Having started out playing club rugby in Tullamore, Izuchukwu did the senior cycle at Cistercian Roscrea where he was a rangy centre.

He took the chance to move to Kelso, a small town midway between Edinburgh and Newcastle, and initially lived with New Zealander Gary Stevens who invested plenty of time into him and encouraged him to move into the forwards.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it was an important step.

“Gary did a bit of New Zealand U-20s [coaching] and he did Crusaders so he had that professional background. He coached James Lowe at some point, small world.

“When I first moved over to that club the house wasn’t really set up properly, because they had a history of players coming that were quite bad so I actually had to sleep in his sitting room until they realised I was good and then they gave me a proper house to live in.

“When I was living with him for those three days I probably learned the most I ever have in my career… I played some good rugby there.”

He’s been on an upward curve since coming home and he went to South Africa on the 2022 Emerging Ireland tour before a serious knee injury interrupted his rise.

Having shone at No 6 for Ulster, he’s been training as a second-row with Ireland and he’s competing with some heavy hitters going into the series but he’s hoping to see some action now that he’s in the squad.

“If I get to play it would be class,” he said. “I have obviously played against a couple of them, against the Sharks, but I love doing it so if I get a chance I hope I am not too nervous and get a chance to whack someone…

“They are a real passionate country, everyone I’ve always met from South Africa, they are always 100 per cent into what they are doing.

“It’s going to be a good opportunity for me to learn whether I am playing or not. It will be class to be over there and get a look in behind the scenes, because even at club level you never really know what is going on in terms of the atmosphere in the stadium and the dressing rooms.”

If he gets a first cap, perhaps then he’ll have earned that tequila.

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