New Ulster signing Will Addison has expressed his desire to play for Ireland after making the move from Sale Sharks in the Premiership to the PRO14.
Addison, along with fellow new signing Billy Burns, played for England at U20 level but is now eyeing an Ireland international jersey, having made the move to Belfast.
“I’ve locked horns with Billy a fair few times in the Premiership so I think both of us are really excited about this new challenge,” Addison told BBC Sport.
“We’re both young fellas who have got a lot of aspirations and we feel that the environment we’ve got here at Ulster with the coaching group we have and the playing group we can fulfil those.
“So we’re extremely excited, the pair of us.”
Addison, 25, has had a feel for what it is like to be in the Ireland set-up, training with them on his June break.
“I’ve huge ambitions. I’ve had a little taster,” he added.
“I was on holiday in Melbourne in the June series so I managed to do a little bit of training with the Ireland team and I loved that and I’m loving the environment I’m in at the moment so it’s really pushing me to be a better player, which is why I made the move really, just to really fulfil my potential and I really feel I can do that here.”
Ulster open their PRO14 campaign against Scarlets on September 1.