Leinster's Jack Boyle primed for 'battle' and eager to kick on after taste of Ireland camp

A taste of Ireland camp has Jack Boyle gagging for more and the Leinster prop is sure he's in the right place to kick on.

The 22-year-old loosehead from Dublin has overcome a difficult start to the season, including missing out on the Emerging Ireland tour through injury, to start two of Leinster’s last three games, which also saw a European debut against Bristol.

Picked as a training panellist by Andy Farrell for the Autumn Nations Series, Boyle saw team-mates from the 2022 U20s Grand Slam Sam Prendergast and Gus McCarthy push on for full honours, while fellow front-row forward Thomas Clarkson also make a senior debut in November.

"It was a pretty disappointing start to the season," Boyle told RTÉ Sport.

"Picked up a bit of an illness and injury off the back of it.

"The timing with the Emerging Ireland tour and stuff like that, it was pretty big dampener to miss out on that.

"Thankfully, I was lucky enough to get back for that Connacht game, pre-Autumn Nations, and got picked as a training panelist off the back of it.

"Then went into camp then for the few weeks, four or five weeks and absolutely loved it.

"[I was] absolutely delighted to get the opportunity to go into camp and experience the atmosphere that the lads are always talking about here.

"I knew a lot of the Leinster lads going into it, but then working with Andy Farrell and Simon Easterby for the first time was really exciting as well.

"[I was] delighted to get a European start on my belt.

"Look, I want to push on. I'm very ambitious, having a taste of the Irish camp now, that's ultimately where I want to get to.

"You see how Sam and Gus have gone over the last few weeks, it's a credit to them and you can tell that their self-confidence, their self-belief has really come