Eric O’Sullivan hungry for more after reaching milestone 50th cap for Ulster

The Dubliner, who turns 25 at the end of the month, has reached the landmark rapidly after only making his debut against the Scarlets in September 2018.

O’Sullivan won his 50th cap quicker that he expected and after originally being named on the bench against Glasgow, he was pitched in from the start after Jack McGrath went down injured in the pre-match warm-up.

“It was a bit of a shock but we are aware that that can happen at anytime, you need to be ready to go, there have been games in the past where I have come on early,” said O’Sullivan.

“You really don’t have much time to think about it - you are just told that your starting and you go out and play.

“It was great to get the win and have a good performance on top of that,” he added.

“We said during the week it is the good team performances we remember, it’s not the individual achievements - it’s more how the team does so I was happy to get a good win.”

O’Sullivan said he is focused on improving his game to be the best he can be in his bid to earn more caps.

“When I first got my opportunity Kyle McCall was meant to be on the bench then he got injured so I came onto the bench and I got a good run of games, my goal for that year was 10 caps and I had that by Christmas,” he said.

“Once you are in and playing you are happy as long as you are feel like you are doing well, you are trying to improve every week, you don’t get too long to think about it you are just in the moment and it is week to week.

“I’m just trying to focus on individual performance and try to be as good as I can be, as long as I perform there is no reason why I can’t get more caps.”

The loose head prop has played in all Ulster’s games, starting the last three, and he knows any dip in form there are a number of players wanted his No1 shirt.

“I think it is huge, I think having that squad depth is really important and a lot of those guys are really putting their hands up and putting in good performances when they get their opportunities,” said O’Sullivan.

“It is important when you do get those opportunities that you play well because you never know when you will get them again.

“Myself, you are just trying you best to make an impact and hoping you are doing enough to keep your name in the team.

“If we want to challenge and be a top team we are going to need a good squad and I think we have gone a long way to showing we have a lot of good guys.”

Ulster travel to Zebre on Monday night looking to win their opening six games in a Pro14 rugby season since 2012.

“We’re happy with how we have started, there are a couple of games where we can maybe improve on things and really put teams to the sword,” said O’Sullivan.

“Zebre have been very much and improving team and we are not going to be able to take anything for granted there.”

“You saw them against the Scarlets if don’t get things right against them they are very capable of putting scores past teams,” he added.

“We’ll focus on them and how we are going to go about trying to get the win.”

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