Chris Farrell took the long route to international rugby, but he says he’s delighted his decision to spend three years in France has paid off.
The Belfast boy started out his professional career with Ulster and earned call-ups at Ireland Under-20 level before he moved to Grenoble, where he spent three years in the Top 14, with the intention of learning and improving.
He made the move back to the country to play for Munster during the summer and did enough to catch the eye of Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt, who handed him his first international cap in Saturday evening’s Guinness Series test with Fiji, a 23-20 win, at the Aviva Stadium.
"It was a detour to get here. I had to go to France and back; it was always in my goals to come back and get a chance to play at this level and thankfully that was the case," explained the imposing 24-year-old centre.
"I have that now and hopefully can build on it as one cap is nothing so hopefully I can put in a few more performances.
"I was very young when I went to France and it was purely to get game time and gain experience and build and grow as a player, then I’d come back home and step up to this level and that was always my view and I was always going to come back."
Farrell revealed that Schmidt kept in touch with him while he was in Grenoble, giving him tips and advice on improving his game.
He said: "Throughout the years I kept in contact with Joe and other people in Ireland and he was helpful - he reviewed a few of my games during my time over there and gave me a few things to work on.
"It will be no different after this - there will be a lot of work-ons and a lot of stuff to look back over on Monday morning."
Now that he has just over an hour of international rugby under his belt, Farrell wants more.
Ireland take on Argentina in the final November international next weekend so he’ll be hoping that he has done enough to force his way into Schmidt’s plans.
"It is amazing," he said. "I cannot describe the feeling when I was walking out onto the pitch and the fireworks were going off and even in the Shelbourne, I was getting emotional walking out of the hotel getting onto the bus. I definitely want more at some stage.
"The town at home (Fivemiletown, Co Tyrone) has not stopped all week. I think my Facebook and social media has not stopped from people from there, a good few travelled down as well and it was good to be able to speak to them after the game."
Farrell says his first jersey will be given to his parents, who are likely to get it framed and put it on the wall in the family home.
He revealed that the step up in terms of pace and intensity at international level was an eye-opener and that he really knew that he was in the big time when Fiji centre Levani Botia hit him with a fearsome tackle.
"It was getting lined up by Boita at a lineout, I think!" he laughed. "The physicality shook me a few times, but I don’t shy away from that if possible."
