He has endured his share of frustration since last appearing at international level almost 17 months ago, but Eadestown’s Jimmy O’Brien remains hopeful of donning the green jersey again in the near future.

After picking up his eighth Ireland senior cap against New Zealand in a Rugby World Cup quarter-final on 14 October, 2023, the former Newbridge College student was subsequently ruled out of the 2024 edition of the Six Nations Championship with a neck issue.

A hamstring injury effectively eliminated any prospect of him featuring in last November’s Autumn Nations Series and while he had previously made the Ireland squad for the summer tour of South Africa, he missed out on the match day 23 for both Tests against the Springboks.

Similarly, he is part of the Irish set-up for this year’s Six Nations, but has yet to see any game time in the tournament.

However, O’Brien has been named at full-back for Leinster’s United Rugby Championship clash against Cardiff at the Aviva Stadium this afternoon and this is an ideal opportunity to keep him in the thoughts of interim head coach Simon Easterby ahead of the forthcoming clashes with France and Italy.

“I’ve been in training with the lads in [Ireland] camp and coming back. You’re just trying to get a bit of game time. Because all I’ve been doing is training with the lads in camp. You’re trying to come back and trying to play well, get a bit of minutes in the belt. Hopefully go back into camp next week and you never know,” said O’Brien, who also played for Leinster in their URC win away to Ospreys on February 14.

“The aim is obviously to be back in and try to play again with Ireland. You can only do that by playing well for Leinster. I missed out on last year’s Six Nations and the autumn with Ireland. I obviously haven’t gotten a chance with them yet. I’ve still been in the squads whenever I’m fit, but it’s tough to break back into the Ireland squad.

“They’re playing and lads in my position are playing well. It’s tough, but I just have to wait for my opportunity. I’ve been getting selected for Leinster this season, but you have to keep performing well. There’s still so many good players in Leinster. You just have to keep playing well whenever you get a chance.” Interestingly, during last weekend’s Six Nations Championship third round, Ireland and their opponents Wales were the only teams to select five forwards and three backs amongst their replacements. Whereas England, Scotland and Italy opted for a 6/2 split amongst their reserves, France went a step further by naming just one back (scrum-half Maxime Lucu) on the bench.

While Ireland opted for a 6/2 split against France, Wales and England in the 2024 Six Nations, this is something Leinster have also done with their bench in the past – including last year’s European Champions Cup final defeat to Toulouse.

Considering he had appeared as a replacement in the last-four triumph over Northampton Saints in Croke Park, O’Brien arguably missed out on the match day 23 for this showpiece due to the Leinster coaching team’s preference for naming an extra forward in reserve.

Although he acknowledges it is tough when you are left out under these circumstances, O’Brien feels his ability to play across the back-three and at outside centre could potentially benefit him if the eastern province returned to a 6/2 bench split in the coming months. Of course, having started three of the four Champions Cup games that Leinster have played to date in the current season, his ultimate ambition is to be in the first 15 for the business end of Europe and the URC.

“It’s personally frustrating and stuff like that. You’re never happy when you’re not playing and you’re not picked, but you try to deal with that the way you do it. Not allow it to seep into anyone else. Try and help the team out.

“Hopefully if you can play a couple of positions. I think that I can play a couple of positions, that might help if they go 6/2 or 7/1. Where you can cover a few things. It can be frustrating, but there’s not much you can do about it. You just have to play well enough that you’re starting.” Certainly, a strong showing at Irish Rugby HQ later on today will – at the very least – bolster O’Brien’s chances of retaining a regular starting berth when all of Leinster’s international contingent have returned to the fold.

Though he won’t be in charge of the team in Dublin, current Wales interim head coach Matt Sherratt is at the helm of Cardiff and O’Brien believes Ireland’s showdown with the Welsh last Saturday offers some indication of the challenge that awaits Leinster this afternoon.

“They’ve been going well in the URC. Obviously you saw their coach went into Wales and they seemed to play a bit more rugby with a more exciting brand. It is going to be tough, but hopefully we can put in a big performance at home,” O’Brien added.