RUGBY: Ulster's influential David Humphreys talks to Johnny Watterson.

If a measure were to be passed over the six-year-old Heineken European Cup it would show that the competition has provided for a less jaundiced view of players and teams from outside the large continental clubs.

The notion that a Leicester or a Wasps or a Llanelli or a Toulouse side are better than an Irish team has forever been shattered. Ulster's 1999 win, Munster's 2000 final and Leinster's charge this season have all indicated a broad spread of talent around the island.

On an individual basis that growing self belief in Irish rugby has been taken a stage further by a number of players and no more so than by Ulster and Irish outhalf David Humphreys.

Ulster seek a quarter-final place on Sunday when they meet London Wasps for the second time this season. Not long ago in round two on a wet night in Ravenhill Ulster laid bare all of the inadequacies of the English side. Finishing the rout 42-19, Humphreys walked away from the match with a 37-point haul. It was not just a close to perfect display by the kicker but a European Cup record. In the driving rain the 30-year-old displaced non other than Springbok flyhalf Joel Stransky as the competition's goal kicking king.

Pocketing a try, a conversion, six penalties and four drop goals, Humphreys kicked two points more than Stransky's old mark of 35 points with the four drop goals also representing a record for goals from open play.

The subsequent banner headlines were, for once, justified. The player acknowledges the moment but his modest pragmatism and subdued Antrim ego allows it to pass.

"To be honest I think it was a once-off night," he says. "I could go out in the same conditions again and miss every one. It was a night where I didn't kick a number of them perfectly but for whatever reason I mean some of them were hit reasonably well but three or four of them could have hit the corner flag.

"Every so often people have days like that. Golfers have them and they go out and shoot 59 for a round. Everything I did that night just went right for me."

Place kicking has always been scripted into the brief of the former Ballymena Academy player. He has been the kicker on practically every team in which he has played although for Ulster's European triumph in 1999, it was full back Simon Mason who was given the responsibility by the then coach Harry Williams.

"A few years ago I was quite erratic. I was kicking a lot more like what people call natural goal kickers. Now I'm slightly more technical in that I understand more of the theory behind it. I wouldn't say I'm self taught but I'm more technical than I used to be. If something goes wrong I can generally work out what's going on.

"I mean you miss kicks but you can understand why you miss them and hopefully make a correction. If you're kicking well you want to reproduce the same sort of strike on the ball so in many ways, yeh, it would be similar to when golfers talk about grooving a swing."

It is highly unlikely that Wasps will be subjected to the same Humphreys' sting in London on Sunday and over the holiday the freezing weather has curbed the practice sessions.

The renowned kicking coach David Alred had an input into his routine when Humphreys played with London Irish five years ago but since then he has engineered his own style and technique. He has learned that kicking has more than one dimension.

"Pre-season I probably break down the kick into components but when I'm playing during the season I just try to keep a rhythm. It's just a matter of doing it well and it depends sometimes on what mood I'm in. It's technical alright but in some ways it's not really.

"I enjoy place kicking. I've said it before to people but I also think I play better when I have the responsibility of taking the kicks. I don't think about it too deeply as to why I enjoy it but you are out there and you know there is responsibility and I like it. I never think that if I kick badly we'll loose the match."

The apparatus is a pair of Adidas Predator boots. No others will do. Designed for kicking a ball the boots are fitted for size in the way David Beckham or any professional soccer player have their boots personalised, or, for that matter any professional golfer with a set of clubs. Every professional seeks the Holy Grail of an edge.

"Whatever level you play you try to take any little advantage. They are only small things but you are looking for everything and the Predators are by far and away the best I've had."

London Wasps won't expect another show-stealing cameo from Humphreys. Such prolific veins are discovered only a couple of times in a career. Stransky's crown fell to the Ulster player and he too will be knocked off the top by someone else.

"Someone else will have a hot streak and kick more," he says. "It's not something I think about at all."

And that's how he sees it, rewarding and satisfying but ephemeral.