RUGBY: David Humphreys, Ireland's most capped outhalf, is set to retire from Test rugby at the end of the Six Nations. Ulster sources have confirmed to The Irish Times that the outhalf has made known his intentions to cease playing Test rugby after this championship.

Despite overtures from the Western Stormers - indeed, they made an offer for him to play Super 14 this season while he was still under contract - and other offers to move abroad at the end of the 2005-6 campaign, Humphreys intends to continue playing for Ulster next season.

Apparently, his primary motives for wanting to stop playing international rugby were so he could spend more time with his wife, Jane, and their three young children, Katie, James and Lucy.

And the demands on the modern Irish Test player, especially for those based in Ulster or Munster, are quite extraordinary.

For example, in addition to the pre-Christmas training camp in Lanzarote and duties with their provinces, in the seven weeks of the Six Nations the Irish squad members will spend all but eight of 49 nights in camp together.

Furthermore, it is believed Ulster will allow Humphreys time to combine his Ulster commitments with some of the legal work which he will eventually move into full-time after his playing career.

The IRFU and Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan are keen to have Humphreys sign a new deal taking the player up to the 2007 World Cup in France, but Humphreys seems set on retiring.

It's possible he might have been more disposed toward staying had his innumerable days with the Irish squad been rewarded with a fraction more game time. However, despite frequently proving himself to be Ireland's most effective impact replacement since first coming on as a substitute for Ronan O'Gara in the 44-22 win over Scotland in 2000, Humphreys has been frequently ignored, or kept on the bench until it was too late.

That Scottish game saw him turn the match on its head, and his breakaway try, when he kicked the ball on with his left foot, with backspin and without breaking stride, was typical of his rich array of skills.

There have been other cameos too, not least his match-winning penalty in Paris that season, the second Test in Cape Town, the World Cup quarter-final and last season in Cardiff.

Humphreys did regain his status as Ireland's first-choice outhalf in the 2001-2 and 2002-3 seasons, when he started in five wins out of eight, and regained the starting number 10 jersey in the 2003 Six Nations after O'Gara was sidelined for the first game.

Despite scoring a phenomenal 67 points in four consecutive victories over Scotland, Italy, France and Wales - when O'Gara came off the bench to land a match-winning drop goal in injury time - Humphreys was unfairly criticised in some quarters leading up to the Grand Slam decider against England. He finished with 73 points, an Irish record in the Championship to go with his unequalled Irish haul of 275 championship points.

Ignoring all the records and points scoring, which he always insisted were brief landmarks to be broken by the younger O'Gara, Humphreys usually brought a touch of class to his days in an Irish jersey.

Clean living and well preserved, you might say, Humphreys always had a running threat, and attacked the blindside better than most. Largely self-taught, he transformed a reputation of being an unreliable place-kicker, and is a sweet striker of the ball from hand, whether finding touch or taking drop goals.

For sure, he had his off days, and he'd be the first to admit he was not from the Ollie Campbell or Jonny Wilkinson school of tacklers, but despite all the big-game performances for Ireland, whether starting or coming on as a replacement, and Ulster, he was sometimes unfairly portrayed as flaky.

This season he has started one game out of five, against Romania, prior to which Humphreys was brought on with 27 minutes left against Australia, but otherwise hasn't featured. In eight games last season, he started once (landing nine from nine on a blustery day at Lansdowne Road for a 20-point haul in the 55-6 win over the US Eagles). And of the other seven he was granted just four minutes - against Scotland - before being brought on in the 51st minute against Wales as Ireland trailed 22-6. He remained on the bench for the other five games.

Humphreys did start the two summer Tests in Japan, when O'Gara was in New Zealand with the Lions, and has been exchanging places with O'Gara as Ireland's record points scorer of all time.

He stands second with 550 points to O'Gara's 558, and is also the second most capped Irish player, with 72 Test appearances (70 of them at outhalf) to Malcolm O'Kelly.

He hasn't quite finished yet, of course, but all the indications are that family and work commitments mean he will only be available for Ireland's remaining three Tests of the current Six Nations.

Starting with this summer's tour to New Zealand and Australia, therefore, Irish rugby will have to find alternative back-up for O'Gara.

It's a shame, for Humphreys still had much to offer, and probably only when he's gone will his talent be fully appreciated.