Ulster’s Robert Baloucoune reflects on meteoric rise from junior rugby to Ireland contention

The Enniskillen speedster has scored five tries in seven games for Ulster this season - including one at the Ospreys last weekend - and is still contemplating how quickly he has gone from junior rugby to the international set-up.

“I don’t think anyone would have believed it, I can’t really complain, it’s a shock but you have to take it as it goes,” said Baloucoune.

“Everyone was great, they try to get you involved and get you up to say a bit about yourself and stuff like that, everyone was really welcoming and helped me out when I needed it.

“I’d have been watching Ireland in the pub with my friends - to be here training now and just chatting to Johnny Sexton, it’s weird but I love it.

“I think I’ve taken a bit of confidence from that training, it was really good, it was a bit surreal. I’ve been watching the guys on TV and then you’re in training with them,” he addded.

“I really enjoyed it and think I showed what I could do, there were a few boys injured during the training so I got a chance to get a good run and hopefully I showed enough to get another call one day.

“Even just chatting in training on the pitch - Garry Ringrose would have been in the centre, beside me, so I’d be talking to him, seeing what he wants and what he does.

“Obviously he’ll defend differently to Lukey (Marshall) so just chatting to him and seeing the differences, asking him why he did what he did and what I should be doing, I was gathering that knowledge and trying to learn.

“There’s so much detail to learn and get right. I really enjoyed it and it was a great opportunity.”

The Ireland coach gave Baloucoune some work ons to take away from Abbotstown.

“We all had individual chats, he talked about what he thought I could bring; obviously I’ve got speed but just anticipating when there’d be a linebreak and making sure I’m there on the shoulder, using my speed in different scenarios.”

Ulster face the Cheetahs at Kingspan Stadium on Saturday night and after last week’s lost in Swansea and with the South Africans on six points behind Dan McFarland’s side in Conference A, Baloucoune has labelled it a must-win game.

“This is a big game and we need the win, we know what we left behind in the Ospreys game and what we need to show this weekend hopefully,” he said.

“We know the Cheetahs have got pace out the back, we’ll try and deal with that but other teams have pace and we’ve dealt with that before.”

Baloucoune is looking forward to playing against Ulster old boy Ruan Pienaar.

“It’ll be good to see him, I’m sure the fans are buzzing and his team-mates too, I never trained with him or met him, just watched him on TV,” he said.

“He’s left a great legacy here and obviously everyone is excited to see him back playing, we’ll try and get stuck into him but that’s the usual.”