A private wake at a very public funeral in the bowels of Murrayfield last spring: David Corkery's personal misery would have been barely discernible in an Ireland dressing-room numbed by a 38-10 thrashing. A free-falling Ireland had finally come to rest in the basement of the Five Nations Championship.

Corkery would have shared the communal embarrassment, anger and desolation but he harboured further emotional baggage; the realisation that muted aspirations to make the Lions touring party for South Africa during the summer now seemed a ludicrous parody of his current plight.

Staring at his broken hand, the Bristol player considered the folly of the last month, where his desire to play for his country coupled with pressure to do so forced him into a catalogue of errors, albeit with the purest motivation.

He should not have played against England and Scotland after breaking his finger against the Welsh. The specialist in Bristol told him that the injury required a six-week recovery period but Ireland were desperate, and Corkery was an easy touch as far as his country was concerned.

He knew that he jeopardised his chances of making the Lions tour, had heard the whispers that assured his presence in South Africa. Running out on to the Lansdowne Road pitch was the biggest mistake of Corkery's career. Within the first five minutes he had broken the finger again in an attempt to gather a high ball.

"I let my heart rule my head and paid for it dearly. I remember thinking when I broke the finger again that I would appear an eejit if I came off at that stage. People would be saying that I shouldn't have played in the first place and that it was a waste of a substitute.

"Stupidly, I played on because that's the way I was. I wouldn't come off against the English in front of my home crowd at Lansdowne Road. If you examine the situation in a cold, clinical manner I lost out financially. I mean, how much did the Lions make and how much were they worth as individuals negotiating club contracts when they came back from South Africa?

"It would have been nice to have made the Lions grade. It is probably just a distant possibility now given the likely turnover of players in the new professional era. It would have been nice to receive every honour available. I would rate, though, playing for my country above lining out with the Lions.

"The Lions is just a tour, playing for your country is something special. You dream about it as a schoolboy, pulling on the green jersey.

"My priority at the time of the English disaster was just to rectify the damage. I knew I had played poorly, so I said nothing about my newly broken finger because I knew that if I did, I would lose my place for the Scottish match." Corkery was aware that he needed a vehicle to reprieve the English fiasco.

Sadly, the opposite occurred and there was further humiliation when he was forced to watch Scottish skipper Rob Wainwright claim his place on the Lions tour. "I remember listening to Wainwright make a cracking after-match speech in front of Fran Cotton (the Lions' manager) and then their team manager up and delivered a eulogy to Rob. I nearly took to the drink that night.

"But, in all honesty, I am naturally pessimistic, so I did not harbour any delusions." It was that honesty that compounded his problems. In his column in the Sunday Independent, the day after the Scottish game, Corkery replied to a question about the summer Development tour to New Zealand, stating that he did not believe it to be a good idea and that Canada would have been a better and less pressurised arena.

His sentiments were not shared by the IRFU and team management and when the squad was announced for New Zealand, Corkery's name was not included. There was no phone call to explain his omission. Other senior players like Gabriel Fulcher, Jonathan Bell (originally) and Gary Halpin were selected.

News of his exclusion arrived via teletext as he prepared for Bristol's play-off game against Bedford. Paul Burke was another designated to remain behind. "It would have been nice if we had got a few days' notice, a phone call to say `we'll give you a break, enjoy the summer and we'll see you next season'.

"We were just left in an embarrassing situation, for me for example, in going from winning 14 or 15 caps in succession to not being able to make the Development tour. You can examine it in a number of different lights, but I looked upon it as being dropped. So instead I underwent a minor knee operation, took a holiday and resolved to try and reclaim a place in the national squad."

A noble sentiment, laced with the irony of innocence. Corkery could not know it at the time but in the ensuing six months his standing in Irish rugby would plummet, culminating in his omission from next Wednesday's Irish squad training session at the ALSAA Complex.

Last April, Corkery was Ireland's premier blind-side flanker; now he is considered no better than third choice and will do well to manage a place in the A international against Scotland, unless injuries dictate otherwise.

The player has learnt to be philosophical. "I am disappointed but while it's a setback, it is not a huge one. This is just going to make me more determined. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I want to play for my country again and no one is going to dissuade me. I'll do what has to be done. You won't see me giving up.

"This is not the only problem that I have faced this year. I was away when the contracts for the national squad were handed out. I wasn't included in the original 35 or 36. It was only when someone in the press asked, `what about David Corkery,' that the management said that it was a mistake and I should be there."

His tenacity in adversity was tested further in October when he became the victim of a serious training injury. Craig Short's tackle from the side, ended with Corkery's kneecap popping out and then miraculously back in on contact with the ground. Crucially though he had torn ankle ligaments. At the time the prognosis was that he had shattered his ankle.

"Given my nature it is not surprising that I feared the worst in the ambulance. I was originally ruled out for three months but was back within seven weeks. I knew that it would rule me out of the New Zealand game but was back in training four weeks and two and a half games before the Canada international.

"I made the A team and thought I did reasonably well but the Irish management, through no fault of their own, missed the match as they were fog-bound in Cork. I believed that things might progress from there but there were no calls, no letters to attend squad sessions."

National coach Brian Ashton has watched Corkery on a couple of occasions recently, and has stated that he is not quite back to his best. This is a view shared by Bristol coach Alan Davies, who claimed that his Irish flanker was operating at only "80 per cent capacity." It is therefore somewhat ironic that Corkery has won more man of the match awards than any of his team-mates.

Reputation alone would not have prompted six clubs, including Bath and Gloucester, to come calling recently when Bristol were experiencing serious financial problems: the west country club have subsequently brokered a multi-million pound deal.

The 25-year-old concedes that he is enjoying his time in Bristol, a fact illustrated by his purchase of a three-bedroomed apartment in a well-heeled leafy superb and his signature on a three-year contract that will keep him at the club until the year 2000.

"I would love to be able to play rugby back home where my friends and family could watch me but I would have been a fool to turn down the money, and perks, that are available over here. I have a better quality of life in Bristol than I could ever have carved out in Cork or Dublin for that matter.

"I am close to negotiating a personal clothing deal with Nike. They already supply me with boots, footwear and clothing. "I like it here but know the risks involved. Bristol have become a professional rugby club in the truest sense of the word this season and we are not simply players who are paid: my job, my career is as a rugby player.

"There is no room for slackers. Bristol operate a policy of fining players who transgress. If you are late for training on a normal day then it's a £50 fine, £250 if you are late on a match day and £500 if you miss a training session or match. There is no arbitration.

"When you consider that some of the guys are on salaries of £20,000, losing £250 is the equivalent of a week's wages. Fortunately for me, I haven't had to cough up but some of the guys are into the club for over £1,000."

A typical week for Corkery offers an interesting insight into the new rugby epoch. A hill run at 10.0 a.m. on Monday morning for an hour and a half, is followed by a snack and an hour's sleep. Players meet again at 2.0 p.m. for weights which is quite an intense session.

Tuesday begins with sprints followed by a video session at 1.0 p.m. where the previous game is reviewed. After lunch there is team training at 4.0 p.m. Wednesday offers similar demands including a match against those not in the First XV. On Thursday the players are given the morning off before training in the afternoon.

Friday is reserved for an hour and a half dress rehearsal of the following day's game plan while Saturday is taken up with a match. Finally, on Sunday the players meet at 10.0 a.m. for either a game or indoor soccer or tip rugby.

The big clubs in England have discarded the traditional image, scaling down to just a single squad of 25-30 contracted players, the new breed of player, one committed to rugby as a sole focus in life with a possible peripheral distraction of college at night.

Corkery's assertion that he is now a much better player thanks to his time at Bristol contains a touch of gallows humour in the light of his current predicament with the national side. "One weakness was my handling but as Denis Hickie's try in Cardiff last season demonstrated, that has improved.

"A year ago, I would have just put my head down and gone for the line but because of the emphasis on using the ball and the speed of the game in English club rugby I have developed as a player: you have to or risk not being picked. The standard of opposition is also central to that. On average you face five or six English internationals every week with a sprinkling of top players from France, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa."

One aspect of his career in England that he does miss is an involvement with Munster. "They are the one team for whom I miss playing, the passion, the banter and that spirit. Obviously representing your country is the pinnacle. I took a chance playing in two internationals with a broken hand. If it happened now I would not play.

"At the end of the day when all the red tape, differences of opinion, misunderstandings in print are put aside, all I want to do is play rugby for my country. It doesn't matter who's coach or who's manager, just give me the opportunity.

"It's not about money. If that's the only thing that sustains a player or motivates him at this level then he has no business pulling on the green jersey. We were able to see the Canadian match live and I watched the Irish team when the national anthem was being played. Only one person was singing.

"Then it cut to the Canadians and some of these guys were in tears: they had lived in Canada all their lives, were born there and brought that passion to playing for the national side. Players from across the water don't always bring that. They may have Irish passports but it takes more than that."

Whether he is involved or not, Corkery has no doubts about what constitutes a successful 1998 Five Nations Championship campaign. "Beating Wales and Scotland and coming close to, or beating England. Running France close would be adequate.

"Just beating Wales would not constitute progress. In fact, it would be a step backwards given that the game is in Lansdowne Road."

Experience has taught Corkery the vagaries of fate. He was fortunate to make the World Cup squad in 1995: he went on to become the Irish player of the tournament, voted by the RTE viewers. He thrives in adversity, relishes the challenge.

Twenty one caps is not nearly enough. What odds another 21? Irish rugby ignores David Corkery at their peril.