Easterby relishes rare start

IT may have been tough at the Teufavia Stadium on Saturday, but despite the bumps and bruises Guy Easterby wouldn’t swap a minute of it.

It's not often that the scrum-half gets the opportunity to spring from the shadow of Peter Stringer, but last weekend with the Munster player resting at home, the former Llanelli man was given a rare start in the Irish No 9 shirt. And typically, he revelled in it.

When you look at the statistics, it's difficult to believe that during his three years as an Irish international, Easterby had only started three international games before the match in Nuku'alofa.