Could be classic case of third time lucky

He's the third pick of the third week. Johnny Wattersontalks to an 'over the moon' Geordan Murphy

GEORDAN MURPHY sits down. Geordan tells us he's "absolutely over the moon". In honesty we are too. Geordan has that effect. It's in his play, his attitude, his demeanour, his flaws and history with the Irish team.

He has been over the moon before in a career that has alternately rocketed and fallen back to earth. With a reluctant Eddie O'Sullivan, his rugby world was pock mocked with cameo roles and bit parts, although he was the player who could do what no other on the Irish squad could but . . .

When his soft shoulder let in Raphael Ibanez for a try against France in Croke Park two seasons ago, it was if all of his immense natural ability and creativity was mill-stoned to a fatal defensive flaw.

That's how some people have come to look at the fullback but there has always been a hard core that believe his positive contributions are irresistible and his ability to hit the attacking line and become the shaman couldn't be overlooked.

Girvan Dempsey, Keith Earls and Rob Kearney will look on enviously from various distances in Croke Park - Kearney from the left wing, Earls from the bench and Dempsey from the stands - but Murphy looks on this as a fresh start, as Declan Kidney looks at the national squad with eyes wide open.

"Yes, that maybe the case," he says. "Three different fullbacks in three games; that may be the case. I've chatted to Declan all the way through and that's fine. I'm pleased to get a run this week. He said he wanted to see everyone and give everyone a shot. Man management is always important. It's always important to be able to chat to the coach and get feedback and so far it's been fantastic."

Murphy has also been in a tug-of-love with his club Leicester and Ireland. He missed sessions at the beginning of the season and again prior to the recent series. But Kidney was true to his word that the net would be cast wide, when he met the overseas Irish players in London earlier this year.

"I missed the start of the year when there was a camp just at the end of the summer, when the new coach arrived (Heineke Meyer, Leicester)," he says. "I was told that I wasn't allowed to come to the camp for a week, which was disappointing.

"Then there was a week before the autumn internationals and I missed that as well. I was ready to go and got a phone call saying there would be repercussions if I did go, that I was going to get fined and the club docked points. I felt I was back of the class and then to come in and miss out on the first two weeks was tough."

Murphy is also one of the players to have faced Argentina last time out in Paris for Ireland's last hooray of their flat 2007 World Cup campaign. There was an uneven and unrealistic dynamic then as the team had to score four tries to survive into the next phase. Despite what the players said about the way to face into such an uncomfortable match by shutting out the fact they had to build a big score, it was an almost impossible task. In the end the magnitude of the team demand was in part the reason the match totally unravelled.

"It was frustrating," he recalls. "Although we said we didn't need to chase the game, deep down we wanted to play some good rugby and we wanted to score four tries. They were playing very good rugby, were on form at the time.

"They built all of their success in their opening games on their defence and it was always going to be very tough for us to go out and do that."

More of the same tomorrow perhaps. But it is worth remembering that the last time Murphy's pizazz was seen in an Irish shirt was in this year's Six Nations Championship, when he came in via his traditional route, for the injured Dempsey. He didn't have quite the relaxed run in as he has had this week. But under pressure to perform at short notice, Murphy didn't buckle. "I was left out of the team on Tuesday afternoon, flew back to Leicester on Tuesday evening. Was in physio on Wednesday and Leicester were pressing me to see if I was going to be fit to play against Sale," he said back then.

"Made the call on Wednesday afternoon that I was going to play for Leicester. Went back in for physio on Thursday and around lunchtime I found my phone and they were saying 'come back (to Dublin), there's a chance you might be involved'.

"Back on a plane on Thursday evening, back in, didn't really know the story. Woke up Friday morning and Girv (Dempsey) had failed his fitness test. I thought I might be in the 22 but Eddie came to me and said: 'you're straight back in, you're playing'."

Murphy won man-of-the-match that day and, like Dempsey, was injured for the next game against Wales but finished the series playing in four of the matches.

As third pick in week three, this is another opportunity. Now in the Shelbourne Hotel, Geordan says he has good games and he has bad games, that he has to put them all behind him. Geordan says that it's boring to say, but that it always has to be the next game. He says Argentina in Croke Park is as big as it gets. Others say for his enterprise, vision and for the possibilities he brings, they are also, "over the moon".