James Hume says he is buzzing and ready to challenge again for a place in the Ireland senior squad after the in-form centre was last week named in the Ireland XV squad for a one-off international against England in Limerick next Friday night.

“Yeah, I’m buzzing,” said Hume on his return to international duty.

“That was a target I set for myself just to try and get back in the picture as much as possible. Ultimately tried to do everything I could over the past six, seven, eight months to do it so it’s nice to be back in there.”

Hume won the last of his three caps in 2022 being called-up to Cullie Tucker’s squad will give the outside-centre the perfect opportunity to stake a claim for a senior spot. And testing yourself against a team like England with its depth of talent and resources represents the perfect test as Hume aims to take his game to the next level.

“It’s just another level up. Ultimately England’s depth across the board is incredibly impressive so they’re not going to have a bad team out. It’s going to be pretty much a test level game for both sides.

“You know what it’s like as well for the lads in the England A squad. They maybe feel hard done by that they didn’t get in the squad so they’re going to be putting their best foot forward and it’s the same on our side so it’ll be a proper, proper good game.”

The former Schools Cup winner with RBAI is one of eight Ulster call-ups to the squad. It’s very possible that he could form the part of a backline dominated with Ulster players with Jack Murphy, Zac Ward and centre partner Jude Postlethwaite also called-up.

“It’ll be nice having 10, 12, 13 potentially all of us there,” added Hume, before stating it’s an added advantage having your club teammates in camp.

“We obviously work well enough together; we know each other well so it’ll be nice to do that in an Ireland jersey. There’s a lot of places up for grabs in the Ireland senior squad and centre as well particularly.”

Before that though, Ulster must negotiate one more URC tie with Cardiff up next on Saturday night. And after last weekend’s defeat to the Scarlets, it gives Ulster an opportunity to sign off before a three-week break in a positive manor while also keeping their 100% home record intact.

There is also the added incentive of revenge for last December’s EPCR Challenge Cup defeat to the blues.

“Yeah, definitely it is, especially because we didn’t get over the line last week, I think it’s even more important now.

“I feel like the difference going into a break when you’ve come off the back of a good win is a lot better because you enjoy the training weeks a bit more because you’re up a wee bit but I don’t doubt that’ll be a problem at the end of this block.”