Cormac Izuchukwu says his Six Nations debut in the 20-13 win over Italy was “unbelievable” in what has been an injury-plagued season for the Ulster lock.
The 25-year-old started just four games for Ulster after his season was halted by injury and missed the Ireland clash in November.
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He played the full 59 minutes in the win over Italy, his first game since January 2, a relief for Izuchukwu who had feared he would need surgery at the start of the season that would rule him out for the rest of the season.
“Obviously I’ve been injured all season, played four or five games and haven’t played since I think the beginning of January,” he said.
“I met a surgeon recently where I was supposed to have surgery or something and said I’d try again and all of a sudden you can play ball again, so that’s normal.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m so happy.”
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Izuchukwu, who now has five Ireland caps, admits he was surprised by the scale of the Six Nations ahead of the Italy game.
“It was important because for me the stage was so big in the France game and I got a taste of it as 24th man on the bench, but then I treated every Irish game as an Irish game,” he added.
“They are all special to me, whether it’s Portugal, Fiji, Georgia or other countries, they mean the world to me, but I’ve been blown away by the reaction on social media, online and from my family, it means so much to them.
“Six Nations, maybe I didn’t get a good handle on it, so it was a shock, but I took that in the last few days, focused and then just got stuck in.”
