‘I was buzzing to get back’ - Tom O’Toole on returning to Ulster sooner than expected after World Cup

The 25-year-old’s first World Cup saw him come off the bench against Romania in the opening weekend but thereafter provided back-up to Tadhg Furlong and Finlay Bealham.

Ruled out through injury for Ulster at the end of last season, O’Toole had been on the pitch for just 145 minutes since the start of April prior to starting in the victory over the Bulls on Sunday evening.

“Dan (McFarland) and I had a conversation about game-time over the last few weeks and obviously I was injured at the end of last season,” he said of his decision to forgo his allotted rest period and return just two weeks after Ireland’s Quarter-Final exit.

“The last few months I haven’t really played as much rugby as I would have liked. It was just having that conversation about coming back in and getting playing and I was happy enough to do that.

“The last few weeks in France, obviously I kept fit, kept myself motivated, so I was in a good headspace to come back in.”

After the Ulster scrum struggled in the season opener against Zebre, the province were presumably only too happy to accommodate his desire for game-time and O’Toole certainly delivered on his end of the bargain, going the full 80 minutes and being named Player of the Match.

While the nuts and bolts were there, earning one key penalty at the set-piece, perhaps the highlight of O’Toole’s performance came with his try assist for Jacob Stockdale, spinning a miss-pass out to his winger lurking on the touchline.

“Genuinely, it was one of those times where you act before you think,” he said of the skill hardly usual in a prop’s toolbox. “I saw the opportunity and I heard Jake shouting for it.

“Playing with these guys the last few years, it helps with those connections, I heard him and I knew it was on. It was a bit of a dodgy pass but he made me look good. If it had flown into touch I don’t know if I’d be smiling. Fortunately he gathered and finished the way he does.

“I was buzzing to put him in the corner.

“Luckily it was off my right, off my left I don’t think it’d have made it.”

While O’Toole’s performance certainly gave the impression of a man who had slotted straight back into things, he admitted the reality wasn’t so straight-forward.

“It’s not easy, I won’t lie to you,” he said.

“At the start of the week it’s about getting your head around certain calls, being back in the system, coming between two different environments.

“With the Ireland group, when you’re away, it becomes like a small family and then you’re part of a new group who have been building together over a long pre-season.

“They’ve built those relationships, especially with a few new guys that have come in.

“I won’t lie, at the start of the week, you’re adjusting to things. You’re asking yourself if it was the right move to come back early.

“(In) the week, I was definitely not being too hard on myself, taking my time fitting back in, not rushing anything or putting myself under too much pressure.

“But there was excitement to play rugby again, I haven’t played a lot of rugby these last months.

“I was really excited to get back, back in front of the home crowd, on a new pitch with a bit of a buzz around it.

“I was excited to get back playing. Physically I don’t feel too bad, I’m in pretty good nick.

“Gladly, having been here for a few years, the lads made it easy for me to come back in.”

There was also the emotional comedown of a World Cup exit, again at the Quarter-Final stage, when there had been the expectation of so much more for Ireland.

“Everybody deals with it differently,” O’Toole added. “If I’d come back after a week, that would probably have been a bit too soon.

“It was just getting mentally back into it. To be honest I was quite bored at home. I was losing my marbles a bit so getting back in, getting playing, back on a schedule, into a routine, it really helped me.”

Even at only two weeks removed, O’Toole can already look back on the experience of his first World Cup regardless of the abrupt disappointment at its conclusion.

“Looking back it was some of the best few weeks of my life,” he said.

“Regardless of the ending, and that was bitterly disappointing, it’s about the relationships and the connections you make as a group.

“When you’re away with a group that long you become a bit like a family. Hendy, Stu, and Rob (Iain Henderson, Stuart McCloskey and Rob Herring), I think we became a lot closer as a four and hopefully that will help us when we’re all back playing for Ulster.

“To be a part of that group, it was a huge honour for me. It helped me with my rugby development, my maturity as a player as well. The way it finished was disappointing but that’s rugby, that’s sport, that’s life. You don’t win everything.

“It was a great experience for me.”

Now with focus back on the URC, there will be discussion of another Quarter-Final defeat to come this week with Ulster travelling to Connacht on Saturday night, the side who knocked them out of the League at the last-eight stage last season.

“That Quarter-Final hurt us, it stayed with guys,” O’Toole admitted.

“I was injured, unfortunately I couldn’t play, but it stayed with a lot of guys, that sting, that hurt.

“Especially at home, we always back ourselves at home no matter what.

“I think it will be a bit of motivation (this week).

“Connacht have been playing really well their last couple of games. They play quite free-flowing as well, so it’ll be real entertaining, a fast game and always physical as an interpro.”