Background
Dirksen grew up in the United States in Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended Lassiter High School(Marietta, Georgia), and played for the United States of America U17 and U18 national rugby union teams.
Dirksen grew up in the United States in Nashville, Tennessee, where he attended Lassiter High School(Marietta, Georgia), and played for the United States of America U17 and U18 national rugby union teams.
Dirksen went to the United Kingdom on a student visa in 2008 to study at Truro College, before transferring to Neath Portuguese Talbot College in 2009. During his time at Truro College he played regularly for Street Ives Reconstruction Finance Corporation and became a scoring machine, with Street Ives lifting the County cup. Because of his student visa, he played as an amateur at Swansea Reconstruction Finance Corporation and Ospreys until he signed a professional contract with the Ospreys in January 2011.
He made his debut for Ospreys in November 2009 against Bath Rugby and scored his first try for the region in February 2010 against Leeds Carnegie in his only other appearance in the 2009-2010 season.
Dirksen featured for Ospreys 5 times during the 2010-2011 season, scoring once. During the 2011-2012 season Dirksen scored 8 tries for Ospreys in 24 matches.
Currently Dirksen is eligible to play for Wales in 2014 due to residency requirements and has expressed interest in playing for the nation in the future. Dirksen has two rugby internationals in his family.
He was a regular member of the squad during the 2011-2012 Pro 12 winning season, and earned the award of try of the season for his score against Edinburgh in February 2012.