He's a mighty fine player, and has been an integral part of the Munster bandwagon for a year. It's probably little known that he will be eligible for Ireland next November through the three-year ruling, yet Jason Holland's profile is much like his performances; understated, quiet and unfussy, while mightily effective.

This is also, after all, the player who was something of a match-winner in his European Cup debut away to Colomiers last season, scoring two tries, adding another in the win over Saracens and in the semi-final, as well as a drop goal in the final, not to mention the scarcely detectable yet key roles in several other scores.

You sense there's more to this 28-yearold than meets the eye, and he's one of those players that you have to watch hard to appreciate fully what he's doing. He has excellent hands, so fast sometimes you'd hardly notice them, and a solid defence. In short he rarely makes mistakes and hence, in a perverse sort of way, that's partly why he's not so noticeable.

Similarly, Holland's arrival in Irish rugby was more the tradesman's entrance as opposed to the red carpet. And as curious as his arrival in these shores via fourth division rugby with Midleton almost three years ago, is his decision to remain here despite being "well got" back home in Taranaki not to mention being another of those players to have had financially more remunerative offers at the end of last season from France.

So how did he get here? A bout of sulking according to the man himself. "I sort of got the `pip' at home when I'd been in the back-up squad for the Super 12 for the last couple of years there. In my last year with Taranaki I had a big year at NPC, we got to the semi-finals, and I felt that I'd had a better year than some of the guys who got picked for the Hurricanes so I had a bit of a sulk and got out of there," he concedes with a laugh.

The Midleton connection came through a former team-mate and friend, Damon Urlich, the player coach at Midleton. He invited him over to try something completely different. "I didn't even know how seriously I was going to take my rugby when I originally came over here. I thought I'd play a bit of rugby and if nothing came of it then I could at least do a bit of cruising from here and see a bit of the world. Then things went from there, the Munster opportunity and it was all go again and all serious rugby again," he says with a phlegmatic view of it all.

In point of fact, it was all no-go to begin with, Holland snapping the ligaments in his thumb in his second game for Midleton against Richmond, thus sidelining him for three months. He can still recall the date he arrived in Ireland, November 13th, 1998, and he figured he'd be heading back to NZ quick enough.

Midleton had other ideas though, and their loyalty is now being repayed after he returned to help their end-of-season promotion push from Division Four two seasons ago. All changed following "a couple of meetings with Deckie (Munster coach Declan Kidney)", though Holland reckons Kidney was "a bit worried about giving me a contract at the start." Ostensibly, Holland was earmarked as back-up out-half, where he had played all his adult career.

He'd played a little bit at inside centre back home in his school days, before being given a run there against an Irish XV as part of Ireland's World Cup preparations in Musgrave Park, in part due to injuries to Mick Lynch and Cian Mahony. "I don't know how keen Deckie was to put me in but I don't think he had too many options. So I got chucked in there but it went alright, and I quite enjoy playing at 12 now."

He laughs at his own comparison between the positions. "I felt, and this is probably a bad thing to say, that I didn't have to think as much; just do the basics which I quite enjoy. Don't miss a tackle, don't turnover the ball, and try and do a little bit extra. Anything extra is a bit of a bonus. I'm really enjoying playing 12 nowadays.

Last summer, he could have returned to his country of birth. Born in New Plymouth, a farming area of Taranaki, he began playing at about four or five in his bare feet. "Everybdoy lives and breaths it, it's like living in Limerick throughout the whole country." He migrated to Palmerston North and Manawatu at 18 for a couple of years before returning for three years to Taranaki.

So why not return? "I can't see anything more for me at home. I sort of gave it a crack, and now there's bigger and brighter challenges over here anyway." Or even go to France? "I never really seriously looked at it. The lifestyle over here is just too good. There's better things than money I suppose and from what I've heard of France it's not a great place to play and live. Everything was going too well and I'm enjoying life over here too much to pack up and go somewhere else, especially France."

Clearly Holland has a strong streak of loyalty running through him, both to Midleton and Munster as well as his newfound friends, not to mention a sense of feeling at home in a rugby climate where he enjoys the mixture of hard work and fun. "He's a smashing lad," says Niall O'Donovan. "He doesn't force his views on anyone, he's not one of those guys who claims to know it all. He'd be quiet but when he says something you listen."

And as much as Midleton thought of the person first and the player second when he initially came over, so did Munster last season. In the week before the quarter-final against Stade Francais, Holland had to return home after the sudden death of his girlfriend's father due to a farming accident.

"It was a tough time. We got through it, Angela's still getting through it. These things happen in life and you've got to get through them as best you can," reflects Holland, who was grateful for the understanding and support of Kidney and Munster. "I felt that I had to go back for `Ange' and he (Kidney) totally understood. He was always in touch with us during the ten days I was at home, that's what makes Declan so good."

As a coach, Holland says of Kidney "he's a real thinking coach. He's really keen to let the boys take over when possible. If you've got an opinion on how things should be done he's no problem with you putting it over. He does a lot of homework technically on other teams, he's brilliant."

Besides Holland's sense of loyalty, backing up the Wellington Hurricanes is one thing, being in the firing line of a European Cup final run quite another. "That six or seven weeks around the semi-final and final was the pinnacle of my career so far. That final was a pretty amazing occasion."

Holland, or Dutchie as he's popularly known, remains quite a self-critic. "I don't quite feel like I am where I was last year, making the odd little mistake which I'm trying to eliminate but I might have upped a level since the European Cup started again."

He cites the example of his searing break from deep against Bath last Saturday in the first-half, when his attempted long pass to Anthony Horgan didn't quite go to hand. "Watching the video I probably should have backed myself and had a crack at Perry. It's trying to find the balance between being a good team player and maybe finding it's time to have a crack at something."

Usually part of the dilemma for exceptional team players.