Not your typical rugby journey.
Pat Lam has turned to a player who’s crooked path to Galway included has taken him via Paris and Tralee.
Ultan Dillane is named in the second row for Connacht’s Guinness PRO12 encounter with Glasgow Warriors, on Saturday.
The 21-year-old lock, who will make his seventh league appearance of the season, will be promoted from the province’s academy to the 2015/16 senior squad.
TG4 caught up with Dillane for a spot of basketball and discovered he has taken a path less travelled to become a professional rugby player.
‘I was born in Paris and lived there with my family until I was seven. Then we moved to Tralee, in Kerry.
‘When it came to initially taking up rugby, [myself and my brother] were a bit shy. A neighbour asked us to come down for a game. My mum decided to bribe us €5 to go down and play.
‘We did, and it was brilliant. The best fiver she ever spent, I think.’
Dillane made a “surreal” debut against Leinster but playing against Munster, and his hero, Paul O’Connell, has been a career highlight so far. To go and beat O’Connell’s Munster at The Sportsground will take some beating.
Helping to secure Connacht a Champions Cup spot, by defeating Warriors, would push that Munster memory close.
TG4’s coverage of Connacht and Munster’s league games begins at 12;40pm on Saturday.
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