"Brian O'Driscoll, " he says without hesitation. One up to the marketing men. "And yer man, Stretcher." Silence. His mate helps him out. "It's Stringer." "Oh yeah, Brian O'Driscoll and Stringer."

There's a succinct point to all this. Brian O'Driscoll's mug is plastered over half of Dublin; he's discernable for a reason. Peter Stretcher's, ah, Stringer's isn't, yet he remains one of the most instantly recognisable Irish rugby players for those who don't have an addiction to the game. Why? Because for the average punter who simply tunes in to the Six Nations to feed the sporting habit on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in spring, Stringer is a small man in a big man's game and they simply marvel at how the 11st4lb, 5' 7" lad from Cork not only survives, but thrives in a game where they've always perceived the bully to be king. It's a turning of logic that pleases people and gives them faith. There is room for the gutsy little guy.

What those casual rugby observers probably wouldn't have known is that their hero has had a tough time of it over the past couple of years. If we've heard it once, we've heard it 250 times. The guy can't break. He can't kick. He puts too much pressure on his out-half and outside backs.

His decision making is poor.

He has to be chopped, full stop. At various junctures over the past two seasons, it would have been extremely difficult to defend most of those charges. They all had a grounding in reality. It appeared to come to a peak during the summer tour to Japan. Many felt that the scrum-half would have benefited from a couple of months with no rugby and his performances in the Far East indicated as much. His crisp passing, essentially the reason why he was first picked for Munster and then Ireland, appeared to have disappeared from his repertoire, while his decision making, normally pretty good, appeared to be deserting him. More telling than all of that, perhaps, he didn't seem to be enjoying himself on the pitch. That was the easiest thing to recognise.

But that was then, this is now, and things have changed, especially since the turn of the year. Stringer's performance at the Stade de France, in both halves, not just the one, was arguably the best we've seen from him in an Irish shirt. And it hasn't been a one off this year either.

Since December, and especially in Munster's defeats of Castres and Sale in January, the scrum-half has been in top form, arguably as good as we've seen him since he came on the scene with his province back in 2000. While last year he was barely mentioned as a Lions candidate, this year he'd be a tour certainty had the trip to New Zealand been delayed by 12 months.

Stringer's performance against France deserves scrutiny, if only because it's become somewhat lost in the flurry afterwards. Witness his playing log. Five minutes:

a delicious box kick to the corner that set up Ireland's initial flurry of activity close to the French line. Twenty minutes: he distracts a few French defenders with a lateral run before releasing Brian O'Driscoll in a move that almost yields a try. Thirty-six minutes: he gobbles up Malcolm O'Kelly's tap down from a line-out and snipes at the French cover.

After the tea and biscuits, he breaks on the blindside and is unlucky to see his grubber kick deflected to touch. Fiftynine minutes: two quick tapped penalties in a row by the scrum-half eventually lead to the situation where he holds his pass just long enough to allow Ronan O'Gara a clear trot to the line.

Sixty-three minutes: another quick tap leads directly to Gordon D'Arcy's try and another tap eight minutes later sees Donncha O'Callaghan barging over.

Seventy-five minutes: he breaks from the back of a scrum inside his own half, chips over the French cover and although he doesn't catch the ball, Shane Horgan recovers possession. And with all those highlights, we've almost forgot to mention that his passing, decision making and speed to the breakdown were near-on flawless. A superb effort all round.

"It really was a top-drawer performance against France, " says Dewi Morris, the 26times capped England scrumhalf and Sky Sports rugby pundit. "He got to the point of contact quicker than any other scrum-half in the competition would have and his passing was as good as I've seen it over the past couple of years. He also made a couple of breaks and that's refreshing to see. I had wondered about his appetite for the game at the start of this season but for Munster and Ireland last week he's been great to watch. He appears sharper, fitter and keen for action."

Morris reckons that much of the criticism of Stringer over the past couple of years has been flawed. "He's not the kind of guy who's ever going to have the opposition back-row shaking in their boots but if he's intelligent about things . . . and I believe he's a great reader of the game . . . he's well capable of keeping them on their toes with the odd break here and there at the right time.

"He thrives when the game is fast and if Ireland want to utilise his strengths fully, they have to play that type of game.

He's a tiny guy and there's no point in asking him to go out there and cause trouble around the fringes. It's a waste of his talents. And while he might get some stick for not breaking, there are players over here in England like Harry Ellis and Matt Dawson who get flak for breaking too much. Stringer is very good at keeping the play moving and releasing his backline quickly. Anything else is a bonus."

Why his form has recovered to such a huge degree, nobody can be quite sure.

There are a couple of theories.

First of all there's been the return of Declan Kidney to Munster, the man who's effectively been by his side throughout his career except, most notably, when his game began to deteriorate. It can't be a coincidence.

Then, there's been the emergence of a couple of genuine scrum-half contenders for Stringer to do battle with.

Down in Munster, Tomas O'Leary has shown enough promise in the past six months to be considered a viable alternative to Stringer on any given day, while his previous understudy at the province, Eoin Reddan, has progressed rapidly at Wasps since the start of the season.

There's nothing so good at focusing the body and the mind as the threat of losing your place and Stringer now looks as focused as he's ever been. So much so, in fact, that where before Christmas the scrum-half position was a problem area for Ireland, it's been pushed far further down the agenda since the 28-yearold has come to grips with his game.

Yer man Stretcher could be the people's favourite for a while yet.