In 1995 Tyrone Howe, winning his second "Blue", captained Oxford University in the Varsity match against Cambridge University before a 70,000 crowd at Twickenham. Within a matter of months, he faced the prospect of never playing rugby again.

On Saturday, the 29-year-old Ulster wing will win his second cap for Ireland - his first was against the USA during the summer - determined to savour every second: his philosophy of "living for the moment" chiselled from bitter frustration. Howe's rehabilitation from a career-threatening injury is a tribute to determination and good fortune.

"Up until the start of last season my last game of any note was the Varsity match in 1995. I played a lot of high profile matches before then, including Ireland A level, and was maybe on the verge of making the senior squad. It seems so long ago. I feel so fortunate that the injury healed and that I met the right people at the right time," says Howe.

"I had a chronic inflammation of the pelvis. I gathered over the years that it has finished the careers of rugby and soccer players, without actually being diagnosed as that. I was introduced to a New Zealand specialist called Mark Bender in London and he said that if he couldn't help, nobody could.

"He said to go away and rest for a year to 18 months. I wore a Velcro belt around my hips night and day for six months, then I went to see him every week and was incredibly fortunate that the injury began to heal." It is little wonder that Howe covets "game time", unperturbed about the advance of Father Time. "I'm older now so I'm just out to enjoy it," he says. "It's a case of giving 100 per cent in matches and relishing being on the pitch. I have gone down the injury road before; I've dealt with the prospect of never playing rugby again. I now know what it is going to be like when I eventually finish playing. I am determined to enjoy every bit of rugby that I have left in me.

"When I started again with Ulster last season, if you had told the people I was working with that I would be sitting in this position they would never have believed you. I've been playing well, working hard and it is fantastic for me to see the rewards."

It's a far cry from the days when Howe couldn't even see the tunnel let alone the light. "It really kicked in when I left Oxford and I was hoping to go to London Irish. They were very good to me at the time, including me in the build-up to matches even though I wasn't playing. I was watching matches on a Saturday and feeling sick that night when everyone else was enjoying themselves.

"I had no release for the nerves I was experiencing and I decided at that stage to just forget about rugby. I took a job at one of the top boarding schools in the south of England, Marlborough College, and basically worked for two years. I didn't watch rugby, I just read about it in the papers. I did a bit of coaching with their under-15 B team and that was the only contact I had and wanted with rugby.

"It was a grieving process for something that had been so central to my life. It affected my work and my personal life in several ways. I certainly faced the prospect of not playing again, but there was a niggle at the back of my mind that if I could just get back to some level of rugby, it would give me the satisfaction that I would determine when I retired, not be dictated to in that respect.

"The Christmas before last year when I came back to Ulster, I turned up at Newbury and asked could I train. I told them I could well break down in 10 days or two weeks' time. I didn't want to play, but I just asked to be allowed train. So I trained with them for a couple of weeks and then they had a bit of an injury problem.

"They asked me to step-in and I played the following week. I then looked forward to maybe playing until the end of the month. The boundaries were extended further until I started to think about playing until Easter. Your mindset changes slightly to expecting to play next week rather than wondering how you will feel at the end of the match or the next morning.

"So from a position of almost not being able to move, I was playing. It was new, like starting afresh. I'm 29 and on the mature side, but my chronological rugby age is a few years younger and I think I have brought that freshness into my game over the past 12 months."

His close friend David Humphreys paved the way for the Howe's return to Ulster, inviting provincial coach Harry Williams to check on the winger's progress.

"Suddenly four years after the Varsity match, a third division game for Newbury was hugely important. I played well and was offered a contract.

"It was quite a leap of faith for both Harry and myself."

So what about Saturday? "Having been capped during the summer doesn't take the pressure off, but the emotions of getting the first cap have been dealt with before. I'll enjoy it in 10 years or 20 years' time when I reflect on the journey from not playing to walking out at Lansdowne Road."