As the Irish squad's so-called "Del Boy of Dublin" Justin Bishop has a few skeletons in his cupboard. Not the least of these is that he once played for the English Under-21s against Italy and on hearing of this Warren Gatland suggested he wear that jersey at one of this week's Irish sessions. But, at the risk of becoming a skeleton himself, no amount of money in the world would make him do that.

Bishop didn't have much alternative at the time. He had already declared his hand with the Exiles and the Irish Under-21s, whereupon his influential London Irish coach of the time, Clive Woodward, became English under-21 coach as well. Bishop points out: "What was I to do? I couldn't exactly say no."

Willie Anderson then ensured that all the tugging came from one direction and Bishop is happy to be playing his former English under-21 team-mate and good friend Dan Luger on Saturday.

He's lost contact with Woodward, but still respects him hugely.

"His general view is that you don't need numbers on your back, that anyone can do anything at a given moment anywhere on the pitch whether they're forwards or backs. He had some interesting moves, which I had never thought of, at London Irish. You can see his influence on England. Total rugby, let's play; that's his motto. `Let's go out and enjoy'."

In any event, Bishop's roots pointed him toward Ireland. Bishop's mother hailed from Hollywood in Belfast, and although born in East Grinstead near Gatwick and attending the noted English rugby academy Trent College, Bishop joined London Irish when he was 13.

His grandfather Thomas Dunn played for North and indeed, once for Ireland, against the All Blacks in 1935 while his great uncle, Sinclair Irwin, and his son were the first father and son combination to hold the offices of president and vice-president of the IRFU. As Bishop might also be inclined to say, not a lot of people know that.

Bishop's next step up the Irish representative ladder came with the ill-fated Development Tour of two summers ago to New Zealand.

Hailed as a prospective Irish centre going out, Bishop returned a somewhat chastened and converted winger.

"With experience your confidence grows. I'm much more confident with my game, and the different skills and abilities you need on the wing. I was a young guy then, a bit naive. They made us look ridiculous really. Unbelievable," he says, shaking his head at the memory. "It was a joke. But I would say that it was a good learning process for myself. If Ireland did go back to New Zealand now, we'd compete a lot more."

It was a full year later, again on the back of some good club form and an injury to James Topping, that Bishop next got his chance as a replacement call-up on the tour to South Africa.

"Once I got there I knew I had to take my chance, and I think I did," he says modestly. "It was unbelievable really, my first international on my first tour and then my first try with my first touch of the ball. For the first 20 minutes I didn't touch the ball and I was thinking to myself: `what is happening?' But now if I don't get the ball for 20 minutes I'm not so worried."

Comparisons are odious but in Bishop's case he doesn't mind the Geoghegan references. Though more easy-going off the pitch, he seems as wired on it, and confesses that due to over-anxiousness "I probably didn't do myself justice against Georgia and Romania. I even admit to myself that I probably should have gone off when I got a bang in the head in the South African game."

He points out, not unreasonably, that it takes time to gel into a side and being part of a winning club team at London Irish contributed to his improved showings against France and Wales.

Strong, adept at the Irish four-up defence, and with a big heart, defensively he has shorn up the right flank though you sense the ball hasn't run kindly for him - yet.

With another season on his London Irish contract and the World Cup looming, the imminent future is already mapped out. "I think everything is going to go so fast anyway. If I can finish the Five Nations as the winger, which is what I want, and then get to Australia and then on to the World Cup, that would fulfil my short-term and long-term goals. It would be stupid to look beyond that."