France v Ireland: Olivier Magne interview: Gerry Thornley talks to the flanker who went into exile at London Irish but returns to the French fold for today's meeting with Ireland

One of the curiosities of today's game in the Stade de France is the French boast more players from London Irish than Ireland do - assuredly a first.

London Irish, of course, have only been clinging on to representation on the Irish team since the late 1990s, in large part down to Kieron Dawson and Justin Bishop, but as surprising as Olivier Magne's decision to move to London Irish last summer is his recall from the wilderness this week.

Dawson was the last player from London Irish to play for Ireland, back in September 2003, as a late replacement in the final World Cup warm-up game against Scotland at Murrayfield. By then the club had long since diluted their Irishness with an infusion of Southern Hemisphere and especially South African players.

Magne, possibly the most dynamic and pacy ball-carrying flanker the professional game has seen in his pomp - most notably in France's progress to the 2003 World Cup semi-finals and 2004 Grand Slam - looked to have taken something of a retirement package from French club and test rugby with his move to London Irish. Ironically, unlike his clubmate Bob Casey, the 32-year-old is suddenly back in favour with his country, having won the last of his 83 caps on France's summer tour of South Africa and Australia.

"It's a bit like the first cap. When the coach called me last Monday to tell me I was being asked back into the squad again, my heart was beating," he says, demonstrating how true this was by raising his right fist to his chest.

However, it doesn't seem quite the surprise to him it has been to others: "Even before I made my decision to leave French club rugby, I spoke to (French coach) Bernard Laporte about moving to London Irish and I asked if it mattered to him if I moved to another club in England, and he told me, 'No, it's no problem. You play hard, you train well, you can play for the French team'."

Magne is softer-spoken and more modest than you'd expect from what you see on the pitch, where he can be prone to bouts of red mist, which some of those who know him attribute to nervousness. That Magne should pack up and leave French club rugby and choose London Irish, not at face value the most obvious destination, was somewhat typical of a slightly maverick career and someone who is very much his own man. Last season saw him fall out with team-mates at Clermont Auvergne as well as the coach Olivier Saisset, a French backrower of the 1970s, and spend chunks of a disaffected season on the sidelines.

The one criticism levelled at him is he can play a bit selfishly. Perhaps all this is the product of his having pursued an individual sport until his late teens. Born and raised in Aurillac in central France, Magne was so proficient at his first love, skiing, he was part of an elite French downhill racing academy based in the Alps.

He actually didn't take up rugby until he was 17, when wandering up to his home town club, but made such rapid strides that he joined a vintage Dax team that reached the 1996 French championship semi-finals. There he teamed up with the likes of Fabien Pelous, Richard Dourthe and Raphael Ibanez, and like Ibanez, married a sister of Dourthe's. Having made his debut for France against Wales in 1997, Magne moved on to Brive and then Clermont Auvergne, both near his home town.

So why London Irish? Beaucoup d'argent?

"No it's not about money," he maintains, laughing. "No, but why not? The coach Brian Smith asked me to come to London Irish and he told me about the project, what he wanted to do for London Irish and the team, and I think we have a lot of good players and I think we are able to do something good this season. We also want to build a great team for next season and I think we can do that."

Of Casey, Magne says: "He is a very important player in the team. He's a leader and a very good player. Our lineout is focused on him and we have a very good lineout. He is a leader, he speaks a lot with the players and everybody wants to follow him on the pitch."

It's a source of frustration to Magne that he hasn't yet shown his best form for his new club, after sustaining a foot injury four games into the season. Nor, he admits, is he at peak form after just three games back.

He agrees that the Premiership does not have as much flair as French club rugby. "Yes, it is true that it is more physical but it is interesting too to experience this different type of rugby. It was one of my targets to play in a different championship like this because I played for a long time in the French championship."

He enjoys the "friendly ambience" at the club and also became a father for the first time, to a baby boy, Joseph, a month ago.

Living between Richmond and Twickenham, he finds the anonymity and bright lights of the big city a pleasant change.

"London is a very nice city and I enjoy having so much to do. When I have a day off I can go and visit Big Ben," he laughs, realising how odd this might sound. "But there are a lot of things to do, like go to watch a movie."

He looks almost a bit upset when you ask if his game has changed over the years, perhaps with the hidden suggestion that he has lost a little of his electric, trademark pace in exchange for experience and savvy.

"Since Bernard became the coach it is true that our style has changed and that rugby has changed a lot in those times. But I am always the same. It is about me and what I am doing on the field. I try to play exactly like I did when I start."

Still something of his own man then.

A farewell on home soil in the 2007 World Cup, by which stage he will be 34, may or not be out of reach, but either way he daren't think that far.

"Yes it is an ambition, but it is not my target. I am very focused on the match on Saturday and after that we will see what will happen. Having the World Cup in France is, of course, very important, but the most important is to play game after game. I'm at the end of my career, and you never know what will happen next."

There is a palpable fever about France hosting RWC 2007, so much so that a huge poster at the FFR's impressive Nationale Centre du Rugby in Marcoussis sports a huge banner of Les Bleus advertising the next World Cup. But as with him, he believes l'equipe Français can only progress toward the World Cup by focusing on the short term.

"I think the Ireland team is like us," he adds, quickly limiting his horizons. "They won their game last Saturday but they didn't play well, so I think they want to realise a great game on Saturday and we have to be very focused on the lineout. The Irish have always had a very good lineout, but we also have to focus on different players like D'Arcy and O'Driscoll, who are always a potential danger to any teams they play against. But most of all we have to be very focused on what we want to do as a French team."

He still hankers after his skiing days though one imagines he can't do much skiing in London.

"I still love skiing. It was a big part of my life, and I wanted to be a champion at skiing. We used to have a week off in winter in the middle of the season and I used to like going skiing, but with professionalism it can be a breach of your contract because of the danger of injury. So that is something I will have to wait to do when my career is over. That is for another day."

For now it is one test at a time, starting today.