Pool D Ireland v Georgia:Andrew Trimble went to Scotland just before the World Cup, largely to carry the bags. He ended up playing, when Shane Horgan tore his medial ligament during the pre-match warm-up.

This week Horgan was the player casually sipping on a mug of coffee and mingling in the team hotel's foyer on the outskirts of Bordeaux. Trimble has a fractured finger. Horgan is back in and he's looking to impress. For the Leinster player, the match against Georgia is not seen as an easy bedding-in game. He is not there to look good, or to slowly find his rhythm after four weeks of spectating. Lying in the hospital bed in Scotland has sharpened his appetite for this competition. Horgan will not be around for the next World Cup.

As far as the world stage goes, this is probably his final throw of the dice. He wants it to fall favourably.
"You come back and you play in the World Cup," he says. "But it's not just about getting back and getting out on the field. I don't think that's acceptable or that's right. I want to play to the best of my ability. I'm probably not going to get another World Cup, so I am not going out there just to make up the numbers.

"I wouldn't come back from injury just for the sake of getting back. I'd be taking advantage of my team-mates if that were the case." Horgan's injury was bizarre. As he was running on the Murrayfield turf, his right leg went from under him and the other buckled in. He didn't know then that it was a manageable grade two injury. At that moment, as far as he was concerned, his World Cup hopes vanished.

"Honestly speaking, it was difficult in Scotland," he says. "It was difficult lying in the MRI machine. It was hard to stay positive because I was convinced at that stage that I'd done a little more damage than I had.

"I was extremely worried as it was only a couple of weeks before the start of the World Cup. No matter what sort of an injury you have, it's not a great time to get it. "Also I knew it was serious. I heard a little pop and knew then it was medial ligament-related. But because it was a grade two injury, that  gave me the opportunity to get back."

Over the last 10 days, he has been able to run out with the rest of the squad. In the last week he has been able to do full fitness sessions and on Monday took part in a full contact session at the team's practice ground. Just as the prospect of playing in Croke Park in last season's Six Nations championship was a carrot to recover from another injury, so has France this time been the motivator, the spur to be intelligent and patient with his body.

"Early in my career I had lots of injuries. Then I had a clean run and the last two have been serious," he says. "But it really helps if you have a carrot. Croke Park the last time, the World Cup now.When I knew is was a grade two, there was a chink of light there. Mental strength at that stage then wasn't an issue, it became very, very easy to work extremely hard."

Horgan was not the only happy camper in the squad yesterday. Captain Brian O'Driscoll, as expected, welcomed the winger back. But his praise bordered on effusive. Trimble's injury is not serious, so during a week where it was difficult to see good times, Horgan's name on the team sheet prompted an upswing in mood.

"It's a massive, massive boost to have him," said an unrestrained O'Driscoll. "The leadership he brings to the team is something very few players have. He will bring something to this World Cup for us."
Right now Horgan's concern is to step into a team that needs to dramatically improve its level of performance. His view is that it is necessary to take a step back in order to go forward again.

"I think it's about playing pretty simple rugby," he says. "I think it's about everyone doing their job. I think sometimes when you are playing a team that is perceived as a weaker nation, although Georgia will be stronger than Namibia, everyone wants to get their hands on the ball and play a really elaborate
type of rugby.

"That's not really a smart thing to do, I think. When everybody does their job correctly, that's when we play our best rugby." At 29-years-old and with 55 caps he brings more than just a wing position to the team. He is an option for the Ronan O'Gara high diagonal punt. His strength and 6'4" inch frame can batter as well as side-step.

And if O'Driscoll is correct, maybe he can also lead players towards the brand of rugby Ireland know they are capable of but which they have struggled thus far to produce.