Who got you into rugby?
My dad Niall was helping with the coaching at Blackrock College rugby club and took me along when I was five or six. I was there until I was ten, then started rugby at Blackrock College school.

Have you played in other positions?
I was a scrum-half until I was 16 or 17, then I had a growth spurt and moved out to full-back for a year and then to 13 since my last year in school.

I like centre because your skills are challenged in tight spaces, yet you can also get the ball in space. Defensively it’s quite challenging and I enjoy that, even if it’s not always successful!

Who have been your mentors?
At school at Blackrock it was Peter Smith and Gareth Pickering, as they introduced me to playing centre. There have been a number of others since, including Wayne Mitchell and Girvan Dempsey at Leinster.

When did you join Leinster?
I was a second-string player at school, but I got the chance to go to a Leinster U20 trial as I was finishing school, then played for their U20s. Off the back of that I got picked for Ireland U20 in 2014 and got my Leinster Academy contract last summer.
It was a bit of a roller coaster.

Who did you play for last season?
UCD, and I had a couple of British & Irish Cup chances with Leinster A.

What are your aims now?
With players being away at the World Cup, I might get opportunities in Leinster training and if an injury or two goes my way, I could sneak onto the bench. I’ve improved a lot since last year but I’m nowhere near where I want to be yet. I just try to be better at the end of each day than at the start of it.

RW Verdict: Ringrose, who played at outside-centre in all five of Ireland’s U20 World Cup games this year (2015), fought hard to get his chance in pro rugby. This business and law degree student has the brains, talent and footwork to go far.

First published in the October 2015 edition of Rugby World magazine.