Gerry Thornley talks to Kieran Campbell, a player who is finally getting a chance to step out of Peter Stringer's shadow.

Kieran Campbell is such a nice lad that on first impressions he easily fits the description of "young man you wouldn't mind your daughter taking home". So it's decidedly ill-fitting to learn that when Campbell got married one Monday in June, he briefly ran the risk of being divorced on the Tuesday.

The marriage had been arranged a long time in advance, in his wife's native town of Tralee, and the date had been cast in stone. A minor hiccup emerged in his selection for the Irish squad to tour Japan, which went into camp that week and departed the following Saturday.

"It was a pretty interesting time to be around me and my wife at that stage," he admits, laughing.

"No, Orla was very supportive about that. I suppose in both ways it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, getting married and going away to get capped. It was a difficult decision at the time but looking back at least we can smile about it now."

Campbell earned his first caps as 70th- and 69th-minute replacements for Peter Stringer, and returned in time for a rearranged honeymoon to Los Angeles and Hawaii. As there was little to learn about the scrumhalf options by starting Stringer in those Tests, besides which he looked in need of an extended summer, undoubtedly there was a compelling argument for starting Campbell in both games.

Now, at last, at the age of 26, albeit 50-plus caps and years after Stringer (who's only 19 months older than him) Campbell has his chance.

That chance is based in part on Campbell's stunning solo try off a tap penalty from halfway at home to Stade Francais in the Heineken European Cup last season, and there'll be many detractors of Stringer out there who'll be hoping the Ulster scrumhalf avails of it, and even a couple of good breaks - along with an assured all-round game - will have them hollering for the change to be permanent.

Yet Campbell has more to do than is generally felt to dislodge the incumbent. Stringer, who looks rejuvenated, passed very sharply last week and is a big-game, ultra-competitive animal with bags of experience.

Although technically all the attributes are there - a good pass, good box kick and the pace of a converted winger - Campbell has still to convince he can truly influence a match. And that try was his only try of last season or this. He's also coming under new pressure within Ulster given the Acquisition of the Kiwi Isaac Boss, so his season could yet swing in any direction.

His pride at making this first step is manifest, as it will be for his father, Tom, who hails from Ardara in Donegal. Tom Campbell moved to London, where he is now a head teacher at a primary school, and met his Sri Lankan-born wife, Marie, though there were holidays to Ardara every summer and retaining the Irish bloodline had always been encouraged.

So, aside from playing Gaelic football for Heston Gaels in the London League, when Campbell was introduced to rugby, he was introduced to it at London Irish.

"It's been a childhood dream, even though I was born in England, to play for Ireland at Lansdowne Road. It's the way I was brought up. My father would always have been prouder of the idea of me playing for Ireland, and playing for London Irish when I was younger, it was very much part of an Irish community in London."

Campbell did play with the English schools team, partnering Jonny Wilkinson, but was being coached at the same time by Willie Anderson, who was a big influence.

"Willie spoke to me and encouraged me to play with Ireland in the under-19 World Cup, saying it would be a massive opportunity."

He had started playing mini-rugby at London Irish at the age of six, progressing through the ranks until making his debut against Leicester two weeks after he was part of Ireland's Under-19 World Cup triumph in 1998. Looking back though, he laughingly wonders if it was the right team to make his debut against.

"They had to win the game to win the (English) title, so they had all the big guys - Martin Johnson, Graham Rowntree, and all the guys I'd been watching on TV. I didn't expect that year to be running out against them. But it was an exciting time."

A polite, soft-spoken antithesis of his ill-suited nickname "Naz" at London Irish, after the unflinchingly arrogant boxer Naseem Hamed, Campbell thus follows in the footsteps of Brian O'Driscoll and Donncha O'Callaghan in making it to the Irish team from those heroics of 1998, and the hope would remain that Paddy Wallace might one day join them, although it doesn't particularly surprise Campbell that relatively few have done so.

"Rugby is getting more and more competitive, and I think it's good to have that many coming through, to be honest. It's always difficult to know how many will make it from underage teams to the Irish squad. I think four or five is not a bad return."

Memories for life, naturally.

"Most people would say the final, and I remember walking on to the pitch in the old Toulouse stadium, and to us it was massive, and a fabulous day in front of a big crowd. But I think the South Africa game before the semi-final, was the stand-out game. We were backs against the wall, 16-0 down at half-time, but came back to make it 16 apiece, and then to come through the penalty shoot-out and all that rigmarole, was for me great to be involved in.

"There was a good team spirit, and the guys enjoyed each other's company, which is always important in a team game, and you had some outstanding players like Brian O'Driscoll, and Donncha and Paddy had tremendous World Cups. I know it was only a Junior World Cup, but for us at the time it was a major event, and when you get a taste like that of winning a trophy and that kind of success, you just want more of it."

Stringer had been at the previous Under-19 World Cup and at that stage had progressed to the Irish Under-21s. "I don't think Peter would even have known who I was," Campbell jokes, self-deprecatingly.

Similarly diminutive - one doubts the Ulsterman is actually the inch taller than Stringer the programme notes suggest - Campbell was likewise going to cut it in only one position.

Unlike Stringer though, he took a surprisingly circuitous route to the number nine jersey and a longer one to the Irish team. He actually started on the wing, mixing it with fullback, before eventually making an inevitable and complete conversion to scrumhalf at the age of 12.

Passing, obviously, was the aspect of his game that required most work, and he tells of countless hours honing this under his dad's watchful eye with the help of his brother, Ronan. "I'd say my brother was sick of taking passes from me," he admits, gently laughing again. "He played 10 with me at school as well, so he reckons that's why his career never took off; he says he spent too much time working with me. He's a younger brother, so I stifled him obviously."

After 68 starts in three seasons with London Irish, Campbell was encouraged to pitch up with Ulster three seasons ago; something he was keen to do in order to enhance his Test prospects. Initially he toiled behind Brad Free and Neil Doak and you wondered if he would have been better advised staying put.

"If I'm being honest now, it didn't really work out the way I would have liked it to. Obviously I didn't come here to sit on the bench," he admits, "but that's the way sport is and unfortunately for me at the time, if I'm being brutally honest, Neil (Doak) was playing better than me and I didn't deserve to be on the side.

"Luckily for me I found a bit of form, got my place back and I've managed to kick on again, but I've no one else to look to but myself for whatever reason."

He can't put his finger on it. He's always been studious and professional about his game, but now he reckons he has momentum. From early October last season, he became a regular, save for losing his place for two games, the highlight being that Stade Francais game.

"It was a massive performance by the team, and it gives everyone a lot of confidence if you do something good in a game. For me that was the highlight of my last season and again everything seemed to kick on from there."

His best try? He smiles a while. "Probably yes. I suppose I scored good ones on the wing for London Irish but at scrumhalf it's certainly my best."

It will help Campbell's equilibrium today that he will partner David Humphreys, one of five provincial team-mates in the starting line-up. Ulster have taken something of the Munster philosophy: do well collectively, and individually more will be rewarded. "That's the way it is in our place at the moment."

Yet such was his euphoric reaction when scoring against Stade, he still gets stick from his team-mates for kicking the ball into the crowd. Some slagging for more of the same today wouldn't go amiss.

Kieran Campbell

Born: July 6th, 1979

Height: 5ft 8ins

Weight: 11st 13lbs

Underage honours: England under-16, under-18, Ireland under-19 (winning World Cup in 1998)

Teams: London Irish, Belfast Harlequins, Dungannon and Ulster

Tests: 2