Ulster Rugby vs Zebre

www.

ULSTERRUGBY

.com

On his recent run of form:

Personally, I am delighted with the start to the

season; I have got more chances than I expected

so I am feeling really positive. With being a young

guy surrounded by the talent here at Ulster,

especially in the back line, you have to make the

most of every opportunity or you’re just not going

to be selected again. That drives me on and I’m

delighted with how things have gone for me since

the start of the season.

We aren’t too far into the season but I've already

had a few highlights that will live long in the

memory such as my debut appearance and also

the try against Munster. Scoring under the posts

in front of a packed Kingspan Stadium is always

something I have wanted to do, so it was a proud

moment.

On stepping up from Academy to seniors:

The Academy programme is built around

university and your academic career as well

as rugby, so being brought up to the

senior panel - everything has

ramped up for me. Rugby is

more like a full time job

now so my studies

have taken a back

seat for the

meantime as

playing rugby

is much more

intense, but

it’s a really

enjoyable time.

There is quality all around me in this panel and

I have learned an awful lot from them at training

and during matches. I remember watching

Charles Piutau a few years ago against Samoa

and I never imagined I’d be playing with him, so

it’s a dream come true and an honour to be a

part of this squad.

On a whirlwind couple of years:

I tweeted a picture recently of the Schools’ Cup

semi-final in 2015, and it’s crazy how things have

progressed from then. At the time you are playing

schools rugby and it is the be-all-and-end-all

and once we lost that match, I thought my rugby

career was over. We were all devastated.

After that, I got picked for the Irish U18 Schools

team and then I thought I might have a chance

of making something of this opportunity. So I

put my head down and decided to work hard

at succeeding in rugby. Kieran Campbell at the

Ulster Rugby Academy was a great influence, and

also Jacob Stockdale and Jack Owens, who were

the year above me in the Academy. I witnessed

how well they were doing with Ireland U20s and

the opportunities they were getting with the Ulster

seniors, so that made me more hungry to get to

that level.

On his future goals:

For the rest of the season I will be aiming to

get a few more caps under my belt, whether it

be as a result of more senior players being on

international duty or out injured, or whether I just

get selected for playing well enough!

Then towards the end

of the season, my ambition

is to get picked for the Ireland

U20s World Championship side. I'm a

young boy who grew up on a dairy farm so it

was either milk cows or play rugby, so thankfully

rugby is working out for me at the minute!

ROB LYTTLE

IN FLYING FORM

Rob Lyttle burst onto the scene when he scored two tries in his full debut

against Dragons back in September, and the winger has been in flying form

since. Get to know the 19-year-old from Donaghcloney a bit better…