In at deep end but on a high

Pool D Ireland v Argentina:Geordan Murphy is officially over the moon. He never ran away. He never thought about it. He hung in there and now he's over the moon, writes Johnny Wattersonin Bordeaux.

"It's been tough watching from the stand but I'm over the moon to be getting a run at the weekend," he said yesterday.

We are all, with the exception of the injured Girvan Dempsey, over the moon that the bearded one is playing. And given where this Irish team have found themselves at this World Cup, over the moon is not a place many players have been to with any regularity.

Whether Murphy should have being playing anyway instead of the unfortunate Dempsey is a moot point. But there is no dispute that the Irish fullback brings a different bag of spanners into the game against Argentina. Where Dempsey brought bravery, calm and steadiness to Ireland's play Murphy is being asked to do something less easily defined. The je ne sais quoi of Murphy, the qualities that have endeared him to Leicester fans for years, are now going to get an airing in Ireland's most important match since the last World Cup.

Many people, not least of all Murphy himself, thought that his chance to play for Ireland in this competition had passed. Dropped from the 22-man squad for the game against France, it was as if Eddie O'Sullivan had snapped the lid shut on the matter.

"Yeah, maybe a little bit of that alright," he says about thoughts of not getting on the pitch again. "It's disappointing, for the first while you go into yourself a little bit and feel down. You say: 'God, what next?' and that sort of thing and especially in a squad environment you are trying not to be like that, you can't sulk and go around with your head down. That's not good for the team environment. I wouldn't throw the toys out of the pram and walk out in the middle of a tournament.

"I'm back in the side this week because Girv (Dempsey) is injured and it's a horrible thing to say from my point of view that I'm back in the side but I'm disappointed for him because he's injured. But it gives me a shot. It's a massive game for us and there is a lot of pressure from an individual point of view and a team point of view."

O'Sullivan was quite explicit about what Murphy and Denis Hickie would bring to the match, one that Ireland have a remote chance of winning by four tries. Hickie was in the same position as Murphy and saw his expulsion from the bench as the likely end to a distinguished career. But in what may be his final selectorial act of the World Cup, O'Sullivan has shone a light on both players.

"With the two guys coming in, we probably have more game breakers, guys who can create something from nothing," said the Irish coach.

"Raw speed from Denis as well as being a good reader of the game and Geordan, who can turn something from nothing. We have as many game breakers as we can possibly have on the side."

Murphy must also know that his game-breaking ability was insufficient to have had him centrally involved in the previous three matches. Coming into a game of almost insurmountable demands could seem a little like the team is grasping. And of course it is.

But whether Murphy gets the ball to do anything against a Puma side intent on knocking back an Irish pack remains a pertinent issue. Murphy, Hickie, Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy and Shane Horgan will be lining up but will they ever see the ball. The fullback will get few chances to make an impact.

"I think you just live with that. It's not something that I think about too much," he says. "It's more important that we get a win. We can't chase four tries from the beginning. We have to try to build a lead.

"Most of the guys who play professional rugby have been involved in games when they've had to get a bonus point and what happens is you go out and work on getting the lead and if you get a try that's great, even better if you get a second one. When you get to the last 20 minutes the bonus point becomes a real issue."

The player, who had too many bad outings against France to play last week, seeks an "over the moon" outing against Argentina this week. A cameo that in itself may be well worth watching.