Irish International
Humphreys was a formidable outside half with excellent positional kicking from the hand, accurate and consistent goal kicking plus devastating acceleration from a standing start which regularly set up try-scoring moves in the three-quarter line. In addition, his drop goal was a vital part of Ulster and Ireland's armoury in the late stages of close games. Humpreys has made an outstanding contribution to Irish Rugby, as well as notching up an impressive tally of international caps. Humphreys has also been capped for the Barbarians
Humphreys represented Ireland at A, U21 and Schools Levels. Humphreys made his Ireland debut against France on 17 February 1996.
Later in his career, Humphreys suffered from inconsistent form, and competed with Munster's Ronan O'Gara, who would eventually surpass him as Ireland's most-capped fly-half, for a place in the Ireland team. Humphreys played for Ireland at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, sharing time at the flyhalf position and sharing kicking duties with Ronan O'Gara. In the 2003-4 season Humphreys lost his place in the Ireland side.
Humphreys played in Ireland's summer 2005 tests against Japan, captaining the side twice, with O'Gara on Lions duty. In November 2005, he played against New Zealand and Australia, and captained Ireland for the fifth time against Romania. Humphreys announced his retirement from international rugby after being an unused replacement throughout the 2006 Six Nations campaign. Humphrey' retired as Ireland’s most capped out-half with 72 appearances, and with 560 international points.
Read more about this topic: David Humphreys (rugby Union)
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