British and Irish Lions prop Tom Court says that he’s looking forward to a new challenge having said an emotional goodbye to Ulster.
The 33-year-old, who was called up as injury cover for the historic tour to Australia last summer, has signed a three-year contract with London Irish after eight seasons at Ravenhill.
And the loosehead, who is equally adept at tighthead, admitted that it took some time to come to terms with the fact that defeat against Leinster meant that he would not pull on the white shirt again.
“We gave it a few days to sink in after the loss down in Leinster,” he told Ulster’s official website.
“It is only at the end of this week that I have been thinking – it’s now time to pack up the house and start sorting things out.
“It is very sad. I didn’t think that I would have been as torn up as I am. I am not going to walk about blubbering and crying – at least not all the time
“It is going to be one of those things that you don’t realise how good it was here or what you had here until it’s over and until you are somewhere else.
“I am looking forward to the new challenge but it’s only really in the past few days that I have been starting to think about it.”
