Humphreys emerging from illustrious brother’s shadow

LIKE most ‘overnight’ sensations, Ian Humphreys had been paddling away furiously under the surface before he burst into the spotlight so serenely this past few months.

Though he had represented Ulster and Ireland at U21 level and captained the Irish Sevens side in Hong Kong last season, few people knew him as anything other than David’s younger brother until his star turn against Cardiff in the Heineken Cup last weekend.

With big bro blocking his path towards stardom at Ravenhill, Humphreys jumped at the chance to join the Tigers two summers ago but his beginnings in England were far from auspicious.

For the majority of the past eighteen months, he has been plying his trade with the Tigers Development XV but, such was his early form for the second string that coach Pat Howard chucked him in for the Premiership match up in Newcastle last season to see if he would sink or swim.

By his own admission, he went down like a lead balloon in the north-east and things got worse when Howard gave him another go at it the following week against Gloucester at Kingsholm.

“I didn’t play very well to be fair,” he says. “I got a few injuries after that and just played with the ‘A’ team then for the rest of the season. It was tough but you’re always going to find it tough going to places like Gloucester.’’

A positive, engaging character, Humphreys contradicts the dour

Ulster stereotype, but a self-deprecating manner doesn’t fully disguise a steely determination to succeed.

“I’ve had rugby nightmares all through my career and I’ve always tried to take good things from all of them,” he reasons. “You can always take more from a bad defeat than from a good performance. I learnt a lot from those two games and they have helped me this season.”

With seven other Irish pros on the books, his integration into his new surroundings proved far less traumatic off the field. Shane Jennings and Leo Cullen made the switch across the Irish Sea at the same time, he shares a house with Johnny Murphy, while Cork’s Frank Murphy is constantly popping his head around the front door.

Leicester still saw enough last year to offer him a contract extension and the only time he seriously questioned the wisdom of emigrating was when Howard shipped him off for a month to the recently relegated Leeds Tykes in October.

“I felt a bit frustrated but it was a great month’s experience. It really helped me with the games I got. I wasn’t best pleased with having to go at the time but I ended up really enjoying it.”

His return was well-timed. With Paul Burke confined to the treatment room and Andy Goode on autumn duty with England, Howard had little option but to give the young Irishman another shot at the title.

This time he hit the ground running, aided in no small part by the fact that five of his six games since have been at Welford Road and he has been feeding off a pack providing ball so clean he could eat off it.

“Ian got his chance while Goode was away with England and Paul was injured but, having said that, he probably would have been given the chance against Cardiff if both guys were fit,” Howard explains.

“(Scrum-half) Harry Ellis was the same and if they play together against Munster they will be up against one of the top two or three world pairings in that regard in O’Gara and Stringer. It would be a great test for them.”

The only cloud on the horizon appears in the form of the Ireland situation and the difficulty Premiership players have in forcing their way into Eddie O’Sullivan’s plans.

“I do want to play for Ireland, but there’s no doubt that had I stayed in Ireland I wasn’t going to get a game for Ulster. I was never going to get ahead of my brother. Ever. He’s a pretty useful player!

“Then there’s Paddy Wallace, who is second in line for Ireland at out-half. Looking at it like that, playing an occasional game here was always going to be better than playing AIL. At the minute, I don’t see how it can affect me negatively at all.”

Sucking in the rarified air at Thomond Park is the next steep incline on a graph that is finally pointing in the right direction, and with it comes obvious comparisons with the Ulster number ten.

A foot infection will prevent David from attending today’s game at Thomond but the two have been on and off the blower all week, David buttressing his younger brother with crucial little titbits about the venue and the opponents.

Having played together with a mucky ball in the back garden for days on end as youngsters, the notion of emulating his better-known sibling is a cliche-in-waiting.

‘‘Obviously when I saw David making a career out of it I realised it was an option and it certainly beat having to get a proper job. The name has certainly helped as well, being David’s wee brother.”

Though he wouldn’t say it, the goal must be to be known as simply ‘Ian Humphreys’, a rugby player of his own renown and not just somebody’s younger brother.

“Maybe on Saturday, there’ll be a few nerves. We train so much though that, once you get started, the nerves go out the window. If you relax and enjoy it you will do better.”