Jake Flannery: Ulster fly-half chasing Ireland 'dream'

Jake Flannery on the charge for Emerging Ireland against Pumas in Bloemfonteim last year

Fly-half Jake Flannery believes he can push his way into Ireland reckoning if he can be a success with Ulster.

The 24-year-old, who joined Ulster from Munster last March, will start in Friday night's URC encounter against the Lions at Kingspan Stadium.

"That's still a dream I have, to play for Ireland," said Flannery.

"I felt that moving to Ulster would put me in a position where, if I could keep getting better, I could get game-time and push myself into that situation."

Flannery played for Emerging Ireland in their tour of South Africa last year but has yet to receive a call-up to the senior squad.

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The retirement of Johnny Sexton after the World Cup leaves the fly-half position up for grabs going into the Six Nations.

"It's something I want to chase and get involved in - I have a good bit of confidence in my game and in myself that if I can keep getting better week to week, keep improving the little things then that hopefully comes down the line," added Flannery

"I really enjoyed the Emerging Ireland tour last year. I loved it and really enjoyed the coaching set-up there and felt like I benefited a lot from that.

"It's an opportunity [Sexton's retirement] - regardless of who is competing with me it comes back to the stuff I can do and how well I can play and how I prepare.

"I suppose the Ireland chat is great and it's something I want to get after, but the focus right now is getting into the Ulster team and playing as well as I can for Ulster."

Ulster beat Munster 21-14 last week to make it three wins from their opening four URC games and sit a point off the top ahead of the Lions match.

Billy Burns is Ulster's regular number 10 but Flannery, who has scored two tries this season, is determined to become the team's first choice in the position.

Billy Burns has to settle for a place on the Ulster bench against the Lions

"That's the plan and I'd love for that but it's more about focusing on my own performance week to week and if that happens, it happens," said Flannery.

"We put pressure on each other and we've a brilliant relationship - we're really open, really competitive but we're always pushing to get the best out of each other.

"We're building confidence as a team. Defensively we're gaining confidence, we're gaining that connection and at the moment there's a real togetherness in the squad.

"It feels like a real tightknit squad where we want to fight for each other and we want to win together.

"I think week to week we're building that confidence and hopefully you'll see more of that on Friday night."

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