Billy Burns says he won't feel conflicted if he gets the opportunity to line out for Ireland against England at Twickenham in Saturday's Autumn Nations Cup clash.
The Ulster out-half represented England at underage level, winning the Under-20 Rugby World Cup in a team featuring Maro Itoje in 2014 and beating an Irish side including current international colleagues Ross Byrne and Gary Ringrose in the semi-finals along the way.
Having made his Ireland debut as a substitute against Wales in last Friday's inaugural Nations Cup opener, Burns says past international allegiances and childhood dreams of lining out in white at Twickenham will not be on his mind if he gets game time against England, for whom his older brother Freddie has previously been capped.
"I won't feel conflicted at all. I am very much here to play for Ireland. My passion is to play for Ireland," said the 26-year-old, who is qualified to represent Ireland through his grandfather who was a Cork native.
"I loved representing Ireland on the weekend. So there will be none of that. I'm fully focused, if I do get the opportunity and things go well with the return to play, it will be all about getting the win for us.
"It doesn't matter whether we're playing England, New Zealand or whoever, it's all about getting the result for us."
But it was his 2018 move to Ulster after six years at Gloucester that opened the door for his Irish prospects.
"I always knew I was Irish qualified through my grandfather and the opportunity came up to go to Ulster," Burns explained.
"It was just an opportunity I couldn't turn down. I felt it was the best place for me to go and improve as a rugby player and push on and hopefully try and play professional international rugby."
Burns' Ireland debut and withdrawal last Friday were both bookended by injury. Firstly, Johnny Sexton's hamstring injury, which rules the Ireland captain out against England, led to Burns' early introduction half an hour in against Wales.
But then he himself had to be withdrawn with a head injury, with Conor Murray taking up an unfamiliar out-half role with aplomb in the Ulster player's absence.
However, despite feeling "devastated" by his enforced withdrawal, Burns relished the chance to pull on the green jersey for the first time.
"It was incredible. It was a strange old week, obviously coming late into the squad. There was a lot of stuff to learn so a lot of time with my head in a notebook," he said, adding that the Ulster contingent had helped ease him to life with Ireland.
"I'd been in camp before and the calls had all stayed pretty similar, but just sort of refreshing my mind, and then obviously it's not the circumstances that you want to go on, with Johnny pulling out with an injury, but it was probably the best thing for me because it just chucked me in at the deep end."
And having had that first taste, he is keen that it does not prove to be a fleeting appearance as he follows the return to play protocols after sustaining the head injury.
"I don't just want to be in for one game. I want to try and get back in that squad and play regularly," he said.
"So plenty to improve on, but it was a huge amount of pride from both myself and my family on Friday night."
Speaking of his family, his maternal side are "all huge Irish fans", while his father "has always had his Irish jersey on" but the proof will be in the pudding this weekend to see which side they support, he added jokingly.
"It'll be interesting this weekend going against England because I've got a lot of friends back there and went to school in England and all of that, so we'll see where their loyalties lie this weekend."
Follow England v Ireland this Saturday via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, watch live on RTÉ One from 2pm, or listen to live updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
