Humphreys could halt retirement plans

Ireland fly-half David Humphreys admits he is giving serious thought to shelving his retirement plans and making himself available for the next World Cup.

Humphreys was set to bring down the curtain on his celebrated career at the end of the campaign but the Irish Rugby Football Union and his province Ulster want him to continue playing.

The 1999 Heineken Cup winner’s sparkling form helps explain Ulster’s encouraging start to the season while the lack of quality Irish fly-halves has also prompted the IRFU to enquire about the possibility of a contract extension.

But Humphreys, Ireland’s leading points scorer and second most-capped player with 71 international appearances, is in no hurry to decide whether he should postpone his retirement until after France 2007.

“Staying until the next World Cup is something I have considered. I’ve had an informal discussion with Eddie O’Sullivan and that’s as far as it’s gone,” he said.

“I’ve haven’t thought about it much though. There would be a huge number of fixtures involved if I were to stay on and obviously there are a number of issues involved outside of rugby.

“I always planned to retire at the end of the season so I’m going to have to reconsider that over the next few months. I’m looking at all the options.

“Ulster’s form has been a massive factor. I wasn’t enjoying myself so much this time last year. But because Ulster have been doing so well there is a buzz about the squad.”

At 34 Humphreys should be entering the twilight of his career – a fresh two-year contract would make him 36 at the time of the next World Cup – but he insists age will not be a factor in his final decision.

“The argument goes that if you’re good enough you’re old enough, but that never seems to apply when you get older – if you’re good enough you’re young enough,” he said.

“There are many successful players who are doing well in their 30s. If you’re playing well age isn’t an issue.”

Humphreys has lost ground to Ronan O’Gara in the Ireland pecking order with the Munster fly-half O’Sullivan’s number one choice to fill the number 10 jersey and there are lean pickings outside the top two.

“If you look around the provinces and you will see there isn’t as much depth in certain positions as Irish rugby would like there to be,” he said.

“Fly-half is certainly one of those positions. That’s one of the challenges facing Irish rugby. But somebody will come through, there’s no question about that.”

Humphreys has been restored to the starting line-up and named skipper for Saturday’s showdown against Romania with O’Gara dropping to the bench.

Ireland are struggling at outside-half and O’Gara’s disappointing Test performances will have given O’Sullivan a further headache with the 28-year-old failing to reproduce the match-winning form he showed last November.

He struggled noticeably in last Saturday’s 30-14 defeat by Australia and was replaced by Humphreys shortly into the second half, although the Ulster veteran fared little better with an intercepted pass and a sloppy tackle contributing towards two Wallaby tries.

To single Humphreys out for criticism would be harsh, however, as several Irishmen performed below-par against an unimpressive Wallaby outfit and the Dungannon back has called for a positive end to the autumn series.

“Romania is an opportunity for those who haven’t played and some of the newer guys who haven’t had too many chances to play for Ireland,” he said.

“We’re very disappointed with the way it went against New Zealand and Australia. I’m not saying that winning on Saturday will make up for that but we must look forward and Romania is the last international before the Six Nations.”