O’Gara understudy Warwick won’t stayon bench forever

PAUL WARWICK could hardly be blamed if he was becoming increasingly frustrated at the fact that he is as far away as ever from claiming a first team place with Munster while remaining ineligible to represent Ireland at any level.

But the 27 year-old native of Brisbane, Australia, whose all-round footballing attributes are widely acknowledged and make him a key member of the Munster squad, adopts a totally realistic and practical attitude on both points. First and foremost, he was fully aware that the number ten jersey on both the Munster and Irish teams was very much in the possession of Ronan O’Gara when he made the move from Connacht in the summer of 2007. Furthermore, he realised that representing Australia in sevens tournaments several years ago precluded him from playing for any other country in the future.

Given his subsidiary role with Munster, it might seem a little silly to suggest that Warwick should have any claims on a place in the national set-up. But those who have seen him fill in for O’Gara are satisfied that he is a player of the highest quality and arguably the second best number ten playing the game here at present.