RUGBY: The 35-man Irish squad trip to Lanzarote next week for warm weather training represents more than just a welcome trip to the sun in the middle of an Irish winter for Jeremy Davidson.

It suggests that Eddie O'Sullivan and the Irish selectors rank Davidson among the top five second row players in the country along side Malcolm O'Kelly, Leo Cullen, Gary Longwell and Paul O'Connell.

So what, you might think from a former Lions and Ireland player.

For Davidson, however, it has come at an important moment. Since the Ulster player, who travels this weekend with his team to France for their make or break Heineken Cup match against Biarritz, Irish selection represents a kind of homecoming.

He is back where he wants to be, where he was, where he should be. His is a career that peaked then flatlined over the course of 12 months because of knee problems and then stuttered along with a procession of ill-timed physical ailments.

In a few seasons Davidson's named slipped from the glare of the 2001 Lions tour and into a twilight zone.

It appeared the second row was always either getting fit or recovering from another setback. Lanzarote is recognition that the Lion is climbing back onto familiar high rugby ground.

"Any professional would love to play for Ireland and yeah, I'd really like to get back. I'm delighted I've been selected for Lanzarote and, hopefully, it will improve my rugby," he says.

"It has given me a confidence boost but there are lots of good second rows in Ireland at the moment, especially after the autumn internationals and winning that match against Australia.

"I was there watching the match when they beat them (Australia). It was the best performance for a great number of years from an Irish team and I suppose I met it with mixed emotions. I was both ecstatic for them and envious of them. I would have loved to have been out there playing.

"It made me more hungry to get back into the system, especially as the players were all performing so well."

"This year was no exception and prior to the Six Nations Championship the knee flared up again. More grief. But since then he has been quietly building on a pain-free season.

A dead leg gazumped the autumn, but the knee has remained intact and Davidson has been steadily rising in stature for Alan Solomons and Ulster in their European Cup campaign.

"The surgery worked well. I'm not troubled by the knee now," he says. "The life of any rugby player has its ups and downs but now coming up to Christmas we've got important games. We have high profile games in the European Cup and the Celtic League and that will be good.

"Biarritz this weekend is definitely a must-win and they will be much harder to beat at home. But we'll have to win away as well as at home against Northampton, so there are a lot of big games coming up for us."

Ulster will compete in Parc des Sports Aguilera on Saturday with last Friday's Ravenhill Road win still warming their confidence. The fact that there is only a week in the time span means they can carry the momentum with them on to the Continent.

"Ulster have played a lot of French teams," he says. "We've to turn it around now and win away from home. We drew with Toulouse before in Toulouse and that's the best Ulster have done so far.

"Biarritz were the French champions last year. But we beat Glasgow two weeks ago away from home and we got more confidence winning at home again last week.

"So we can do it. We know they'll have big support but we can feed off that too."

Playing his best rugby with his best knees and best body, Davidson represents a challenge to all of the second row players on the Irish squad, and a potential option for O'Sullivan.

He talks about the possibilities with the fear of a player who has been bitten so often by disappointment that even the talking of it may draw down some unforgivable hex. A big, quiet lad, smouldering underneath, his career has taught him to hope as much as to expect.

"It's going to be tough. I'm looking on it as a bonus for me. I'm back to full fitness now and have been playing for Ulster regularly.

"Hopefully I can go on from Lanzarote and stay in the national set up," he says. "Hopefully I can now progress."

Finally free of niggling injuries, Jeremy Davidson is delighted to be back involved in the Ireland set-up.