John Cooney can consider himself very unfortunate not to have earned more than 11 Ireland caps over the last six years or so.
Having made his test debut in 2017, there were times over the last half decade when he was arguably the most in-from scrum half in the country. Despite this, he has found it difficult to get playing time under Joe Schmidt and then Andy Farrell.
His last appearance in green came during the 2020 Six Nations campaign, coming off the bench during the loss to England at Twickenham.
It appears as though his Ireland days are now behind, but the 32-year old could be returning to international rugby in the weeks ahead.
Gregor Townsend reveals John Cooney Scotland interest
The change in international rugby eligibility rules means that John Cooney could now be set to line out for Scotland.
The alteration to the law allows players to line out for a different nation for which they are eligible if it has been over three years since their last appearance for their original international side.
Cooney qualifies to play for the country via his father and a potential switch has been mooted for some time now.
Speaking at the Six Nations launch, Scottish head coach Gregor Townsend confirmed that the Ulster player was keen to change his international allegiances.
I spoke to John when the rule changes came about. He actually reached out to me, just to let me know that it would be something he’d consider, a lot of his family are living in Scotland.
In terms of timelines, he’s not available until later on in the championship, so obviously it wasn’t something that we considered for the beginning of the championship.
We’ll look at when he’s available, and whether we feel it’s right to bring him in, in terms of his performances compared to the nines we have here, but also in terms of the speed that he will require to get up to speed with how we play.
It will be challenging for someone coming into a championship, but it’s great to know that he was keen to be involved with us and adds to our depth at scrum-half.
John Cooney will not be eligible to play for Scotland until February 23rd, at which point three years will have passed since his last Ireland appearance. This means that he will be available for the third round of the tournament, when Scotland will face France. They will then host Ireland one week later.
He is not the only Irish-born player that could feature.
Munster player Ben Healy, who will join Edinburgh later this year, has been included in their squad for the Six Nations after qualifying via his grandparents.
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