Ulster centre Darren Cave hopes that if he impresses in the Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with Munster he can force his way into the Ireland team.
The 25-year-old believes that if he, Paul Marshall, Dan Tuohy and Chris Henry play well in the game – where the rugby odds suggest they are outsiders - they can earn a place in Declan Kidney’s squad for the summer tour of New Zealand.
Ireland are scheduled to play three Tests against the All Blacks in June.
"There are times when it does slip into your head," said Cave when asked about an international call-up.
“But a lot of the players who have been on the fringes have sort of forgotten about it.
“There is very much a feeling in the Ulster squad that there are players who have been unlucky with
Ireland and we feel the only way to change that is to go and win something. We’re trying to beat Munster this weekend and win this competition."
Cave has represented Ireland on just two occasions, against Canada and the USA in the 2009 Churchill Cup, but Keith Earls has been preferred ever since.
Earls has already won 30 caps and scored 12 tries but has been helped by Cave’s poor recent injury record.
Cave was only on the replacements bench for last year’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Northampton after suffering an ill-timed injury and earlier this year missed the entire Six Nations campaign when he had been backed to replace long-term injury victim Brian O’Driscoll.
Ulster reached the last eight of the Heineken Cup by finishing second in Pool 4 behind Clermont while Munster topped Pool 1, which also included Scarlets, Northampton and Castres.
No comments:
Post a Comment