Sevens recruit Smith hoping to emerge against the Pumas

It's just over three weeks ago since Andrew Smith was picking up a bronze medal in Cape Town, the Leinster academy winger having been part of the Ireland side who surprised many with a third place finish at the World Cup Sevens.

After spending a well-earned week off on holidays in Botswana, the 22-year-old had only been in back in Ireland for around half a day, by his calculation, before he packed another gearbag to join the Emerging Ireland camp in Abbotstown, ahead of a swift journey back to South Africa.

From the Western Cape to the Highveld, Smith is now back on XVs duty with Simon Easterby's Irish trialists, selected on the wing for this evening's second game of their South African tour, as they face the Currie Cup-winning Pumas in Bloemfontein (kick-off 4pm Irish time).

The Dublin native has been back and forth between the two codes in the last 18 months, making a couple of Leinster appearances during the 2020/21 season, playing on the sevens circuit since 2021, while also helping Clontarf to a title win in the Energia All-Ireland League back in May of this year.

But having collected a bronze medal at the World Cup last month, he looks set to focus more on the XV-a-side game in the coming months.

"I think the option is still open [to play sevens]," he said.

"We'll see how this season goes for me but the option is still open. I'm just looking to get as much game time as possible whether that's in 15s or sevens so whatever way I can make that work, I'm going to try go hard at it.

"[The World Cup] was a really exciting time. Obviously, it was a massive ambition of ours to get a medal. It was a massive squad effort and one we're really proud of. Personally, it's a nice reward coming into a camp like this and showing our