Luke Fitzgerald vindicated after all the hard work

Jamie Heaslip has always stood as the most useful, and accurate, of barometers on those all-too-frequent occasions in the past when Luke Fitzgerald’s staccato Ireland career has been a topic of interest.

The Leinster pair made their Test debuts against the Pacific Islands in November of 2006, since then Heaslip has added another 70 caps to his resumé, while Fitzgerald has managed just 26 more in between his various injury-enforced absences.

It’s a startling contrast.