The last two seasons could have worked out a lot differently for Robert Baloucoune.

The Enniskillen flier, known to team-mates as ‘The Cat’, has been hit with multiple frustrating injuries in the last 18 months, but it hasn’t stunted his progress.

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is clearly a fan, giving the 24-year-old his first two international caps in 2021, while he’s a consistent presence in the Ulster starting line-up when fit.

It helps that he has natural talent; a late convert to the game as a teenager, Baloucoune earned a surprise place in the Ulster academy before supplementing his rugby education with Ireland Sevens.

And he’ll look to add to his Test cap collection in the coming weeks, having been included in the 37-man squad for the opening rounds of the Six Nations.

“It’s always nice getting the opportunity to play, I suppose it’s more exposure in that environment. It’s been a bit tough with injuries, I’ve missed quite a few games,” he said this week, before the final squad had been confirmed.

“It’s similar to the last camp, I hadn’t played too many games and was quite surprised to get selected, so I’m not sure what the story is this time. More exposure in the Six Nations would be great.”

While there have been injury struggles in the last couple of seasons, his ability to find form quickly has been key; Having missed the start of this season with a groin issue, he was sharp enough on his return to earn a start for Ireland against Argentina in November (below).

And after a painful shoulder injury against Clermont Auvergne at the start of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup, he returned in style with a fine try in last weekend’s 24-20 win against the Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.

“All of the work you do in training, and our training is pretty much a competitive environment, it’s pretty close to what we do in a game.

“I feel like I’m able to go back in pretty handily and just try and do my best and train my best as well whenever I am injured.

“It’s nice getting back into the game, I look forward to it a lot more if I’ve been out for a while. It’s actually picks me up a bit more and I’m looking forward to it whenever I get back in.

“Just getting my hands on the ball, getting into the game, taking that first contact and stuff having been out with my shoulder, it was quite nice. I was fine, I got back up.

“Getting a try, I suppose the whole team involvement, getting around the corner and beating the gainline was class. I had an opportunity in the corner and I took it. I haven’t scored in a while, feels like ages, so it was nice to get that try,” he adds.

Missing out on game-time in the run-up to the Six Nations was far from ideal for a player still trying to consolidate a place in the squad. But the way events transpired, Baloucoune missed only two games rather than four, with Covid-19 postponements denying players across the country the chance to impress.

As it was, he didn’t lose too much ground on his fellow wingers, and admits there was a part of him quite relieved to see some games get rescheduled.

“It does feel kind of selfish!” he laughs.

“Obviously, the boys have been training and want to get the game time, but it was a bit of a relief when games were being cancelled and I felt like I wasn’t missing out. Especially with the way I got my injury, I was kind of annoyed with it and the way it happened.

“Nobody wants to see games being cancelled, but it felt like I missed out on less.”

With James Lowe out injured for the opening rounds of the Six Nations, another strong performance this weekend against Clermont Auvergne could propel Baloucoune into the starting team for Ireland’s opener against Wales on Saturday 5 February.

“It’s also a good target and it’s a good aim for us as a squad. It’s hard to beat home advantage at Kingspan, the amount of pressure it takes off you, the support of home fans is class, it’s unreal to play in.”

Dan McFarland’s side come into the game in perfect position; already qualified for the last 16, second place in Pool A, and knowing a win would guarantee home advantage for the second leg of that Round of 16 tie, as well as home advantage in a quarter-final should they advance

Their French opponents come to Belfast needing a win to guarantee their place in the knockout stages, but they’ve lost all four of their previous visits to Kingspan Stadium.

There may be very little risk for Ulster with qualification secured, but the rewards for going four out of four in the pool could be massive.

“I think it’s huge,” Baloucoune agrees.

“It’s also a good target and it’s a good aim for us as a squad. It’s hard to beat home advantage at Kingspan, the amount of pressure it takes off you, the support of home fans is class, it’s unreal to play in.

“We just have to focus on ourselves again, focus on getting the ball to the edge and in training this week, it’ll be on how we perform. We know the threats of Clermont but we also know our threats in games recently.

“Definitely all to play for this weekend and I think Dan has made that pretty clear in training this week. It’s a home game at Kingspan so we’ll be raring to go. I haven’t played here in a while so I’ll be looking forward to it as much as I can and I reckon the rest of the boys will be exactly the same.”

Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow Bath v Leinster (Saturday, 1pm), Ulster v Clermont (Saturday, 5.30pm), Stade v Connacht (Sunday, 1pm) and Munster v Wasps (Sunday, 3.15pm) via our live blogs on rte.ie/sport or on the RTÉ News App, or listen to live radio coverage of Bath v Leinster on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra and RTÉ Radio 1.

The Round 10 fixture between Dragons and Scarlets is the latest contest to be postponed due to Covid-19; positive cases within the Dragons’ playing squad prevent the fixture from taking place on Saturday

Fixtures in United Rugby Championship continue to be hit by Covid-19 outbreaks

The United Rugby Championship clash between Scarlets and Dragons is the latest match to be postponed due to Covid-19.

Fixtures across the United Rugby Championship and Gallagher Premiership continue to be impacted by positive Covid-19 cases within squads.

The December rounds of the Heineken Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup were also significantly impacted by Covid-19 outbreaks and cross-border issues.

Of the seven United Rugby Championship fixtures due to be played on Saturday, four, including this Welsh derby at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli have now been postponed.

“A number of positive Covid-19 cases within the Dragons playing squad have been reported by the region,” the URC said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The URC Medical Advisory Group has liaised with the region and having considered all the facts have deemed that the fixture cannot go ahead as scheduled.

“The United Rugby Championship will now consider available dates to reschedule the game.”

The cancellation means that Dragons have now had three successive URC fixtures postponed; the Welsh region last played a competitive match on December 17.

The news comes as attention also turns to the Guinness Six Nations, which is due to kick off in Dublin and Edinburgh on February 5.

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter says moving the tournament to one place for 2022 may well be the best option this year.

The 2021 Championship was a dramatic one for the French, with the last three matches against England, Wales and Scotland all decided by scores in the last five minutes, and in the case of the latter two, once the clock was in the red.

France won one and lost two of those and had to settle for second in the table behind Wales.

Since then, Les Bleus have recorded a first win over the Wallabies on Australian soil in 31 years, and then backed that up with an unbeaten Autumn Nations Series, capped off with a stunning win over New Zealand.

The 40-25 victory over the All Blacks was one of the defining moments of 2021 and should give France huge confidence ahead of the 2022 Championship.

As was the case in 2021, France open against Italy. In Rome last year, Antoine Dupont – the current skipper in the absence of Charles Ollivon and the World Player of the Year – was unplayable, setting up four tries and scoring another in a thumping success.

Back at the Stade de France, the hope will be for a strong start against the Azzurri on the opening Sunday before a six-day turnaround and a second home match against Ireland.

France have won both fixtures against Ireland under Galthié, a thrilling 35-27 success in the autumn of 2020 in Paris followed by last year’s 15-13 victory in Dublin.

Since that loss though, Ireland are unbeaten and a week before France turned over the All Blacks, Andy Farrell’s side were doing the same. It is always hard to predict what will happen in the Guinness Six Nations, but this game has the potential to be hugely important.

After the rest week, France travel to Edinburgh to take on Scotland, the only side they have not beaten in the Championship under Galthié. They did win on their last trip to BT Murrayfield though, Virimi Vakatawa’s score the difference in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup meeting.

But after Duhan van der Merwe’s last-gasp try earned Scotland a first win in Paris since the turn of the century, France will be desperate to avenge that defeat against a Scottish team very much on the rise.

The second rest week will then be followed by a Friday night clash with Wales, a year after the teams played out one of the all-time great Championship encounters.

In that game, Brice Dulin’s try sealed an improbable comeback for Les Bleus, who trailed by 10 points with five minutes remaining and had lost Paul Willemse to a red card.

That made it three wins out of three against Wayne Pivac’s Wales, with the last trip to Cardiff among the best performances under Galthié, Romain Ntamack the standout in the first win in the Welsh capital for a decade.

The Championship curtain comes down on Super Saturday with Le Crunch, France hosting England in an evening clash at the Stade de France.

It was against England that this France team announced themselves to the world, stunning the World Cup finalists in the first game of the 2020 Guinness Six Nations.

England have won both meetings since, both times at Twickenham thanks to late tries from Luke Cowan-Dickie and Maro Itoje.

France have a good home record against England though, having won four of the last five meetings at the Stade de France.

Galthié and his players have made no secret of the ambition to turn promising results into silverware after near-misses over the past two years. We will find out soon if they will end the 12-year wait for a Championship title.

France’s 2022 Fixtures

Sunday February 6 – France v Italy – Stade de France, Paris
Saturday February 12 – France v Ireland – Stade de France, Paris
Saturday February 26 – Scotland v France – BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Friday March 11 – Wales v France – Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Saturday March 19 – France v England – Stade de France, Paris