Cormac Izuchukwu said his Six Nations debut in the 20-13 win over Italy was “unbelievable” amidst an injury-hit season for the Ulster lock.
The 25-year-old has had a stop-start campaign due to injury and illness, starting just four games for Ulster and missing Ireland’s November games.
He played 59 minutes in the victory against Italy in his first game since 2 January, a relief for Izuchukwu after fearing he would need surgery earlier in the season which would rule him out of the rest of the campaign.
“Obviously I’ve been injured for the whole season, played like four or five games, haven’t played since early January I think,” he said.
“I met a surgeon recently and I was supposed to get surgery and stuff, and said I’d give it one more shot and then all of a sudden you’re playing again, so it’s class.
“It’s unbelievable. I was delighted.”
Izuchukwu, who has now won five Ireland caps, admitted he was caught by surprise at the magnitude of the Six Nations in the build-up to the Italy game.
“It’s mental because for me at the France game, such a big stage and I had a taste of it from sitting on the bench as the 24th man, but then I treat every Ireland game just like an Ireland game,” he added.
“They’re all so special to me, whether it’s Portugal or Fiji or Georgia or whatever, they mean the world to me, but I was blown away by the response from social media, online and my family, it’s such a big deal to them.
“Six Nations, maybe I didn’t grasp it as much as I should have, so that was a shock, but I kind of came to terms with the last couple of days, got my head around it and then just got stuck in.”