CONOR HICKEY, the Narrabeen Tigers junior, who represented Australia in touch football as a teenager, made his Shute Shield debut for the Rats against Manly in a local derby at Rat Park in 2021. After breaking into first grade last season, Hickey, whose father is Irish, was invited to play with an Irish invitational Sevens team at a Dubai tournament last summer. In Dubai, we caught the eye of talent scouts at Ulster in Belfast and was invited to Northern Ireland on a train and trial contract late last year. The young flyhalf could barely believe his luck. Love club rugby? You’ll love the 100 Years of Rugby News coffee table book. With Father’s Day around the corner, grab your copy today! “It all happened pretty quickly and it was a pretty cool experience. Out of nowhere, I was training in a fully professional set up at Ulster, training eight hours a day with teammates who were Irish internationals,” Hickey told Rugby News. “It was a big eye opener and probab