Stealing the plaudits after going toe-to-toe with Robbie Henshaw was one of the main catalysts for Jame Hume’s emergence as one of Ulster’s key players this season.
So says the 23-year-old centre who is in the relative early stages of his club career but was named in Andy Farrell’s Six Nations squad on Wednesday.
Hume freely admits he underwent a “period of reflection” after not featuring in Ireland’s Autumn series wins over New Zealand, Argentina and Japan.
But he vowed to come back stronger and has delivered in spades after impressive displays in recent wins over Leinster, Clermont and Northampton.
A try-scoring performance in a 20-10 victory over Leinster at the RDS in November, when he came up against Ireland star Henshaw, was also a timely shot in the arm.
“Coming up against Robbie was a huge starting point for me and it carried into the Clermont game which was a massive confidence booster,” said Hume.
“Even at the start of the season I’d be bricking it going into games and being like ‘what if I don’t perform well here’ or ‘what if the other player makes me look stupid?’
“I have massive respect for Robbie and he’s probably the best centre in the world at the minute, so coming up against him and holding my own was a huge marker.
“I also took bits off his game. He’s so good off the ball, at scanning and defensively, so that was probably the early trigger for me. And it kind of followed from there.
“Leinster and Clermont were the games where I was like ‘I can do this’. I can look at those and be like, ‘I am good enough at that level’.”
While Hume has caught the eye of former Ireland stars Ronan O’Gara and Brian O’Driscoll in recent weeks, he insists media hype isn’t his ultimate aim.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s always good to hear and I like a bit of outside encouragement, but at the end of the day that’s not who I’m trying to impress,” he said.
“It’s not my end goal to get these people talking about me. It’s what I can do for my team and achieve the goals I’ve set myself. I try to block out the noise.”
While Ulster are already guaranteed knockout rugby, Dan McFarland’s men know a win against Clermont today would help seal a potential home quarter-final if they progress beyond the last-16.
“As (former basketball star) Kobe Bryant once said ‘job’s not over’,” said Hume. “We want to be in the best position possible at the end of the group stages.
“We want to try and get a home quarter-final and we are treating this the exact same way we have treated every other game so far. It’s full steam ahead.”
- Ulster v Clermont has a 5.30pm kick-off.
