THE Olympic Stadium stands will be awash in a sea of green tomorrow for Ireland’s Rugby World Cup clash against Italy.

But for Ireland centre Darren Cave the only colours on his mind this afternoon will be the ones that first attracted him to his beloved Blackburn Rovers in the first place.

Cave was a young boy growing up near Belfast when he became beguiled by the famous blue and white halves.

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Most of his friends were Manchester United supporters but he chose Rovers and watched in awe as Kenny Dalglish’s side completed their magical ride to the Premiership title.

Cave has followed the club ever since, suffering the lows of relegation, and the highs of promotion and Worthington Cup glory under Graeme Souness, and the cup runs and European journeys under Mark Hughes.

And, if Ireland’s World Cup campaign comes to an end before then, the 28-year-old is not ruling out the prospect of gracing Ewood Park in three weeks time for the East Lancashire derby with Burnley.

“It was the year before we won the league, when we finished second, that I started supporting them,” said Cave.

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“A lot of people my age supported United but there was just something about the shirt that I liked.

“I was only six or seven at the time but since then I’ve followed them, through all the peaks and troughs.

“They were great days when we were right at the top of the Premiership but we had some great times under Graeme Souness and Mark Hughes, too.

“Mark’s team were my favourite since the Premiership-winning team. You look at the players he brought in, like (Roque) Santa Cruz and (Craig) Bellamy and I think he’s been our best manager since Kenny.

“Of the current players it’s hard not to be a fan of Jordan (Rhodes) with the way he pings in goals from all over the place but I’ve got to go with Corry Evans – us Northern Irish boys have got to stick together!

“My all-time favourite player? It’s hard to look past your (Alan) Shearers and (Matt) Jansens from back in the day, but I’ve got to say Dunny (David Dunn), just for how good he was and his longevity.

“I’ve just got my fingers crossed he ends up back at the club one day.”

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Dunn’s last East Lancashire derby appearance, the gut-wrenching 2-1 defeat to Burnley back in March 2014, was the last time Cave made the trip to Ewood.

His commitments for Ulster, in the Guinness Pro 12 and the European Rugby Champions Cup, and for the Irish national team, means he has to spend most of time following Rovers through Twitter.

But they are never far from the conversation in the Ireland and Ulster dressing rooms.

“The Premiership is massive over here, everyone follows United and Liverpool, and there are a few Chelsea fans, but we’re lucky as quite a few of the boys keep a close eye on the Championship,” said Cave, who is the president of the Northern Ireland Blackburn Rovers Supporters Association.

“Rory Best, who’s over with us here (at the World Cup), is a massive Middlesbrough fan, and Tommy Bowe, who is over here, too, he’s a big Leeds fan.

“And back at Ulster there’s Roger Wilson, who is a Derby fan, and then there’s Dan Touhey. He’s a Liverpool fan but he’s from Weston-super-Mare and he has a soft spot for Bristol City, so in their last season before they got relegated we came over to Ewood to watch the match. We beat them and had a great old time.

“The next time I got over was for the Burnley game, which was a brilliant day until those two late goals and we ended up losing.

“I see the Burnley game is reasonably soon and if I got the chance, I’d love to get there, but hopefully we’ll still be in the World Cup, and if we are, I don’t think I’ll be given any grace to get there. I’ll have to settle for watching it on the TV.”

Cave was speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph from St George’s Park in Staffordshire.

Ireland made use of the world-class facilities at the national football centre before heading to Wembley on Sunday where they beat Romania 44-10 in front of 89,267 fans – a record crowd for a Rugby World Cup match.

“It was great going to St George’s Park,” said Cave, who impressed against Romania on his World Cup debut.

“We’re (Ulster) spoilt rotten up in Belfast with the Kingspan Stadium, it’s unbelievable, but St George’s Park is absolutely different gravy. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

“ I suppose with the money that’s available in English football and the quality of the English national side that it should not come as a surprise, but the amount of pitches, and the quality of the pitches, and the hydrotherapy pools, it’s just out of this world.

“And Wembley? Jeepers, I’ve been watching FA Cup finals and Challenge Cup finals at Wembley for years so it was just a great moment and very exciting to play there.

“I think we were the last team to arrive over here and I think it’s only when you get here that you sort of get into the atmosphere and see how big this thing is.

“We were told the other day that there was more Twitter activity over the first weekend of this World Cup than there was over the length of the whole World Cup in 2011.

“It’s great that the game is growing, it’s such a great tournament and I’m incredibly excited to be involved in it.”