Ultan Dillane

Early life

Dillane was born in Paris, France to an Irish mother. His father is from the Ivory Coast. At the age of seven, Dillane moved to Ireland, settling in Tralee in his mother's native county of Kerry. Dillane attended St Mary's Christian Brothers School in Tralee.

Club rugby

Dillane first played rugby for his local club Tralee RFC. Invited to play by a neighbour, but reluctant to take up the sport at first, Dillane and his brother were promised €5 by their mother if they went. While with Tralee, Dillane was involved in the youth set up of his local provincial team, Munster. Dillane left the Munster set up however, and joined the academy of Connacht.

Connacht

Dillane came into the Connacht academy for the 2012–13 season. In the 2014–15 season, while still a third year academy player, Dillane made his Connacht debut. He came on as a replacement in a provincial derby against Connacht's Irish rivals Leinster on 19 December 2014, and followed this up with his first start, which came against Ulster, another Irish province, on 26 December. On 1 January, Dillane was a replacement in another Irish derby, playing against his native province of Munster. Following his performances in these games, Dillane was awarded a senior contract with Connacht, which runs until the summer of 2017.

International career

Dillane received his first senior Ireland call up from coach Joe Schmidt as part of the squad for the 2016 Six Nations. He made his international debut as a replacement in the third round match against England on 27 February 2016.