O'Grady's dream comes true

Dylan O'Grady showed no emotion. He wasn't going to be caught that easily: picked to play for Ireland against Italy in Bologna, yeh sure. The lads in Sale are fond of practical jokes but he couldn't understand why David Erskine would want to clown around about being dropped.

Erskine had come to him as soon as he arrived for training, called him a so and so, and then told him that he had been dropped from the Ireland team and that O'Grady was the man to replace him.

It wasn't until Erskine came to him again after the session that his back-row colleague allowed himself a smile, dropped his guard.

"I suppose it was then that I let myself believe it. Before that I was sure it was a wind up. I knew one of the Irish selectors (Donal Lenihan) watched me play last Friday night against Moseley but we both felt that the Italian game had come too soon.

"It's great to be wrong. Getting picked is a dream come true. I hope I won't let anyone down, that will certainly be driving me on."

Ironically for the 26-year-old Manchester born flanker, yesterday began with thoughts of Italy, but for another reason. I'm a huge Manchester United fan. I'd go anywhere to watch them. I got a call from a friend this morning asking if I wanted to go to Turin for the Juventus match. I couldn't because of training."

The consolation came in the form of his call-up to the Ireland team for Saturday week's game in Bologna. Although, he wears the number seven jersey for Sale, O'Grady has enjoyed plenty of experience at blindside where he has been chosen for the Italian match.

"I've played in all the positions in the back-row but really started as a blindside. I didn't move to the other flank until John Mitchell arrived at Sale. He told me that he saw my future as a number seven. To be honest I'd play anywhere to get on the pitch."

O'Grady cites the New Zealander Mitchell, who at one stage helped Murray Kidd with the Irish team but now works with England, alongside Clive Woodward, as the central influence in his rugby career.

"Paul Turner turned Sale from a bunch of nobodies into a Division One team. Mitchell took us from an average side to one that can compete with the best. He has certainly boosted my career."

O'Grady's Irish ancestry extends to both sets of grandparents, his father's parents hail from Sligo, where he still has plenty of relations. He first came to the attention of the Irish Exiles four years ago and was a regular member of the side.

Progress was steady if unspectacular until last season when Sale enjoyed a bumper year that culminated in a Pilkington Cup final defeat against Leicester. O'Grady and Erskine were central figures in the Mitchell-inspired side.

O'Grady played the last three months of the season with hernia problems. Reluctantly he turned down selection on last Summer's Development tour to New Zealand, adamant that the problem required an immediate operation.

He received a further setback at the beginning of this season when suffering a knee injury but an operation sorted out the damage and he has since played four matches at club level.

As a full-time professional rugby player Sale forced O'Grady to turn his back on his previous employment. The player explains: "I worked as a bouncer in a night club, Friday's, but at the end of last season the club told me to stop and concentrate on the rugby."

O'Grady is known as a hard hitting, hard working player who relishes the physical side of the game, attributes that Irish team manager Pat Whelan singled out at yesterday's press conference.

And what of the Italian match? "I have been given an opportunity to prove my worth. It is my ambition to play in the Five Nations Championship. To do that I have to perform against Italy but the important thing is that the team plays well. I don't want to let anyone down."

One suspects that he won't.