Lorcan McLoughlin eager to seize chance after being handed second start at Kingspan Stadium for Queensland Reds friendly
Lorcan McLoughlin is relishing another chance to play at the Kingspan Stadium after making his first start for Ulster against Zebre.
The backrow made his debut in the whit shirt off the bench against the Lions in November 2023 and had to wait until two weeks ago to add another cap.
The 22-year-old was one of the few bright sparks in the defeat by the Italians and is in line to start in Friday night’s friendly against the Queensland Reds.
Since moving from his native England McLoughlin’s career has been halted by Covid and a serious knee injury but now he wants to make up for lost time.
“It all started at U17/18s with the IQ (Irish Qualified),” he said. “I got invited to go to Limerick to play the interpros and after that I got invited to go to the U18s camp and then covid happened, and I wasn’t really sure where my future in rugby was going to go.
“Then I had a zoom call with Queen’s and Ulster which IQ set up. I got brought over here and sent to the sub academy and then I probably had a few dark years in the sub academy.
“I had the U20s then got an academy contact after that. Since then I have just been building to get to where I am at the moment. I’m [in the development squad] now and then moving up to senior next year; it has been a long but fun enough career so far.
“I got capped against the Lions in November 2023 then that December I unfortunately did my knee on that Combined Academies tour and was out for about 11 months, which obviously wasn’t ideal,” McLoughlin added.
“I’ve been back for about three [months] now. The last few months I have been playing for Queen’s and training trying to get into Richie’s (Murphy) eyesight and get a few games under my belt.”
McLoughlin is a number of players benefiting from the Ulster academy link-up with Queen’s.
He said: “I think it has been really good. There are a lot of academy boys playing for Queen’s, so it makes the transition for training into Queen’s matches quite easy and it gives a high level of rugby at the weekends when you are away from Ulster.”
The loose forward has had time to reflect on the Zebre game and said he was left to rue several mistakes.
“It was a weird one being my first start,” said McLoughlin. “I carried well but there were a few errors in the game that I regret.
“As a team we prepared well but we probably went in there with out heads probably a bit too high and didn’t respect them enough, but going forward we know what we need to do.
“We have had a few tough conversations and we have regrouped, and I think we know were we are going now in the future.”
Reflecting on his first start at Kingspan Stadium, McLoughlin added: “It was awesome to get the first start at home. It wasn’t a great night weather-wise, I had three of my four brothers and my mum fly over to watch the game.”
McLoughlin is now looking forward to testing himself against a Super Rugby team and the Wallabies captain on Friday night against Queensland Reds.
“It is really exciting, you have Harry Wilson and Fraser McReight – two very good players – and more players in the squad that are big, serious athletes.
“It is a good opportunity to try out new things. It will be about a 28-man squad, I just have to keep putting my hand up and hopefully make my mark when I get my opportunities.”