John O'Sullivan finds Leinster prop Emmett Byrne understandably hungry for European engagement after 18 months punctuated by injury.

Stadio Comunale di Monigo, a beautifully appointed stadium about four kilometres from the centre of Treviso, is where Emmet Byrne hopes to revive his rugby career. He won't get to dwell on the idyllic setting, distracted as he will be by the more pressing concern of helping Leinster to overcome Benetton Treviso in their first game of this season's Heineken European Cup on Saturday.

His last match in Europe for Leinster was their cataclysmic semi-final defeat by Perpignan at Lansdowne Road in 2003. The frustration and disappointment of that day proved a harbinger of the personal travails over the ensuing 18 months of the 31-year-old tighthead prop.

Injury prone? Unlucky? It's a moot point as Byrne's career has been pock-marked by injury. Having played in Leinster's unbeaten six-match crusade at the pool stage that season, he tore a calf muscle a couple of weeks prior to the Six Nations.

He returned in time to play in an A international against England at Donnybrook, where Ireland deprived their visitors of a Grand Slam, before donning Leinster colours in time for the European Cup quarter-final win over Biarritz.

Soon after the defeat by Perpignan, Byrne began to notice an intermittent lack of power in his right arm. It was diagnosed as a degenerative disc in his neck but when the Ireland squad to tour Australia, Tonga and Samoa that summer was announced, he wanted to travel.

After coming on as a replacement against Australia in Perth he became aware that the problem had deteriorated appreciably. A 20-minute cameo in the final match against Samoa didn't trouble him unduly but while doing some light exercise on holiday soon afterwards he realised "that the strength in that arm had gone down enormously".

Medical opinion decreed he take four weeks of total rest, after which he began his rehabilitation under Mark McCabe's professional gaze.

"I managed to get some positive results with Mark's help and decided I really wanted a shot at the World Cup. I was never 100 per cent but tried my best."

Byrne didn't make the Irish squad, but the resultant disappointment was put into perspective seven games into the new Celtic League season in a game against Llanelli.

"I got what is commonly known as a stinger. I was hit high in a tackle and the nerves in my right arm went haywire. I had redone the same injury, only worse.

"When you lose that amount of power the muscle atrophies. I didn't play in Europe, went to Lanzarote with the Irish squad before Christmas but didn't feel good. We were due to have an Irish squad session on December the 28th but it was cancelled. I sat down with Brian O'Brien, Eddie O'Sullivan and team doctor Gary O'Driscoll and told them I had to take a break, try and get the thing right.

"I think I was in denial prior to that. I couldn't afford to care about my contract nor could I kid myself that things would eventually work out. I decided that however long it took I would not come back to the game until I felt right, whether that was two or five months. My contract was up for renewal but that would be at the discretion of the union.

"In fairness to the IRFU they gave me every chance. I spent three months working with Mark McCabe and could see the improvement but there is nothing to test the body like a match. There is no substitute for the physical contact of a game situation. Gary Ella brought me back for the last 15 minutes of a Celtic League game, ironically against Llanelli.

"We were badly beaten, as we were next time out against Ulster. I got half a match. It was only in our final game, when we beat the Gwent Dragons, that I felt satisfied with my input."

Byrne was placed on standby for Ireland's summer tour to South Africa.

Buoyed by a proper pre-season he's fit and raring to go. Noted for his scrummaging ability and affinity for the same, he's looking forward to the physical demands imposed by the packs of Treviso, Bath and Bourgoin.

So what makes a good tighthead prop?

"Learning how to cheat and get away with it," he laughs. "I never go into two scrums the same way. It's a game of survival - you do what you have to do to get the scrum square."

He knows that on Saturday the Leinster pack are going to have to front up.

"We have prepared well. We know what we want to do both individually and collectively but this isn't an ideal world and rugby isn't a game of perfect. They'll want it just as badly and it'll come down to who can handle the pressure better on the day, who can raise their game just that little bit more. We have the capacity but the only place to prove that is on the pitch."

After the past 18 months it is the only proving ground Byrne requires.