This would be a tasty signing. Munster are reportedly interested in signing La Rochelle’s Ultan Dillane, with the second row/blindside’s contract at La Rochelle running out at the the end of the season. Dillane had a hugely successful career with Connacht, before leaving in 2022, and was one of their standout performers during their run […]

2 months ago

“The Irish bloody love it!” Ronan O’Gara has flown in with his entire La Rochelle playing squad and backroom staff for a week of preparations on Irish soil, ahead of this Saturday’s Champions Cup quarter final against Leinster. O’Gara and La Rochelle hold a 3-1 advantage over Leinster, in their meetings over the past four […]

2 years ago

“Even while working nights, every second week. She put a lot of work in.” Six years ago, I was fortunate enough to get time to sit and talk with Ultan Dillane in a wind-swept hospitality tent, just beside the Connacht training pitch. Born in Paris but raised in Tralee from the age of seven, Dillane […]

3 years ago

“ROG lives there. He’s got a massive mansion there. 12 bedrooms, for all his kids.” Will Skelton delivers it straight as you like before, after a beat, breaking into a big smile. Ronan O’Gara may have a big flock, but he is not at the 12-bedroom stage, yet. It is the Monday morning after a […]

3 years ago

Ireland never knew what hit them. A move to France in 2019 all but ended the Test career of ‘The Punisher’ but the writing was already on the wall at that stage. In June 2016, Ireland were reduced to 14 men against South Africa at Newlands Stadium and still managed to record their first ever […]

6 years ago

“When Pat got here, it was when everything kicked off. It was pretty incredible what he got done in those few years.” Ultan Dillane was handed his Connacht senior debut by Pat Lam in December 2014. It was the second season of Lam’s tenure with the western province and he ensured they qualified for the […]

6 years ago