"He's a very emotional sort of guy, " says Damien Welland, Dowling's rugby league coach in Kilkenny. "He's always the first guy to jump on someone after they've scored a try.

He loves his country, he loves playing for Munster and he loves being successful. He doesn't hide his emotions."

Well that's plain to see and easy to appreciate too. In an era where most sportsmen attempt to betray their emotions with a deadpan look for all occasions, Dowling is a breath of fresh air, the type of guy who mirrors what those in the crowd are feeling and isn't afraid to show it. And yet despite all these pictures, these moments of connection with his public, we hardly know the guy. He's crept in from nowhere to become as vital a cog as any in this season's Munster team. But how?

Meet Ian Dowling. He's 23years-old, 5'11" in height but it's the stuff inside that makes him stand out from the rest.

He was born and bred in Kilkenny City and he first picked up the oval ball at the age of 10. He knocked around with the hurl and sliotar in his youth, as they all do down there, and was a handy hurler by all accounts, both with his school and club, O'Loughlin Gaels. But strangely for someone who didn't exactly come from a rugby family, Dowling was besotted with the sport. He stood out from the rest at underage level in Kilkenny but it wasn't until he flew the coup at 18 to study sports science at the University of Limerick that the passion turned into a profession.

"I know him from around Kilkenny, " says Mick Galwey, himself a resident in the city, "and he always stood out at that level of rugby. When he moved down to Limerick to go to university, clubs like Garryowen and Young Munster were after him but I persuaded his dad that we'd look after him best at Shannon."

While working his way up through the Shannon meritocracy, Dowling dabbled in a bit of rugby league at home during the summer with the Kilkenny Wildcats and in a strange kind of a way, it was from here that his rugby union career really started to click into gear. "We operate out of Kilkenny RFC here so a lot of the union lads would play with us during the summer, " says Welland, coach of the Wildcats. "But Ian stood out at league from day one.

He was physically stronger than most of the other guys for a start and he was as tough as nails to boot. You could see after just one session that he could make it at this sport and it wasn't long before he was selected to play for the Irish Wolfhounds A side, and then the Wolfhounds themselves."

The Wolfhounds, in case you don't know, are the amateur rugby league international side, essentially made up of guys playing the sport part-time in Ireland. And while Dowling was starting to make a name for himself on the left-wing with Shannon at the start of the 2004/05 season, he was called up by the Wolfhounds to play in the European Nations Cup tournament. "We had a lot of discussion about that, " says Galwey, his coach at Shannon. "He told me he wanted to go and I didn't think it was the best move for him. The bones of it was that if he went to play in the tournament, he'd lose his place with us but he told me he'd do everything he could to work his way back into our side so we had to take him on his word. I wouldn't have advised him to go but he's his own man and it probably did him good looking back."

That year, Ireland lost to England in the final of the competition and after coming back to Shannon, he did regain his place in the first team and was a big influence in the Limerick side's All Ireland League final win over Belfast Harlequins. Firmly back in union mode, he was offered a full-time professional contract by Munster and from there he's really caught fire.

"He always had the raw materials to make it at both league and union, " says Welland. "I know for a fact that he'd be playing rugby league professionally in England if he weren't playing for Munster. Even recently I had two or three clubs ringing me up about him but he's with Munster now and that has always been his dream. I don't think he'll ever move from there."

He certainly has carved out his own niche on the Munster left-wing . . . that spin out of the tackle has become his trademark . . . following Anthony Horgan's indifferent form over the latter half of the year and along with Barry Murphy, he's changed the dynamic of his province's season.

While he may not be the quickest wing out there, he's defensive and physical abilities are top notch and he has an uncanny instinct for finishing off tries. But more than all that, it's he's attitude that has impressed so many this year, and over the previous ones. "He's a determined guy, " says Galwey, "a fella who's really bought into the system. He works hard at every aspect of his game and being a professional rugby player is his life. He lives with Jerry Flannery down in Limerick and I'd really love to know what those guys are eating down in that house."

With a confidence bordering on arrogance on the pitch . . . "there's lads down in Kilkenny who'd never seen him pass a rugby ball until he went to Limerick, " says Galwey . . .

Dowling doesn't appear to be afraid of any opponent, any challenge. Perpignan stand in his way on Saturday but you can be assured it won't frazzle him. He'll simply be determined to get those fists pumping once more.

HEINEKEN CUP QUARTER-FINAL PREVIEW MUNSTER v PERPIGNAN Lansdowne Road, 5.30 Referee N Whitehouse (Wales) Live, RTE 2, 2.30; Sky Sports 2, 5.15 We could all just have easily been heading for the Nou Camp at the weekend. If Perpignan had earned a home quarter-"nal in this season's competition it had already been pencilled in for the 98,000-capacity home of Ronaldinho and company, and had they scored three more tries at home against Calvisano on the last Sunday of the pool stages, Munster would have been their visitors.

As it was, though, the Italians stood "rm in the "nal 20 minutes of a game that was already well out of their sight and the "xture is reversed, much to Munster's delight although a visit to FC Barcelona would surely have proved an exciting curiosity to their fans who just love a taste of something different.

But Dublin it is, at the behest of the IRFU money men who desire a few more shekels return for their investment in Munster, and while a quarter-"nal tie at Thomond Park would have been a home banker, the conclusion is a good deal less obvious now that Lansdowne Road is playing host.

The Catalans, for one, will be able to draw on their experience of three years back when they arrived in Dublin as "rm outsiders at the semi"nal stage against Matt Williams' Leinster and subsequently overturned the home side with a superbly ef"cient display of counterattacking rugby. Munster are hardly likely to be as brittle as Leinster were that afternoon but they may have a tough time outfoxing a home defence that has the second best record in the entire French Top 14. No mean feat considering the attacking qualities of some of the teams they've played against.

They've a pretty lively attack, too.

Ramiro Pez will start at 10 following an excellent Six Nations campaign with Italy, while outside backs like David Marty, Christophe Manas and Julien Leharrague are capable of causing trouble to any team on their day. The only question mark hangs over how much ball their forward pack can muster up for them.

Marius Tincu, Ovidiu Tonita and captain Bernard Goutta are all lively blokes in the loose but the Munster eight are well capable of destroying them in the tight, as they do with most teams who cross their path.

Which brings us to the age-old question about Declan Kidney's side:

do they have the quality of backs to turn possession into points? Had the question been asked "ve weeks ago the answer would have been overwhelmingly positive.

The presence of Barry Murphy at outside-centre had been the catalyst that had ignited the rest of the back line and with 11 tries in their last two pool games, the Munster backs were on "re. But now the young number 13 is on the sidelines, the doubts have resurfaced, although a couple of variables give the home side some hope.

Christian Cullen and Mike Mullins are both back from injury but neither is likely to start against Perpignan, although the decision to play Tomas O'Leary at 13 against Llanelli, obviously with an eye to doing the same against the Catalans, is just the kind of curious and brave choice that could turn this tie in Munster's favour.

It won't be as straightforward as most predict, but it's still dif"cult to see Munster losing this one.