IF Denis McBride had been dropped from the national team as often as was advocated and, indeed, forecast then his collection of caps would be less impressive.

McBride will win his 32nd cap against Scotland on the open-side flank on Saturday. Yet his has been an international career often interrupted by omission from the national team, not always to beneficial effect.

McBride, a 32-year-old engineer, is just under six feet and weighs just over 14 stone - considered small by modern standards. He is now the elder statesman on the Ireland side.

He played for Ireland Schools in 1983, for Ulster at under-20 level and the Combined Provinces at under-21. In those days, Ireland did not play under-21 internationals.

McBride went on to play for Ulster in the 1987-88 interprovincial series, and with his qualities appreciated by the then Ireland coach Jimmy Davidson, he won his first Irish cap against Wales later that season and also played against England. During Ireland's tour to France in the summer of 1988, he played ink the famous 19-18 victory over France in Auch, but caps were not awarded for the match.

The top honour had come early in his career, but it was not the prelude to what one could call a smooth international career. He, more than most, has experienced the vagaries of international selection.

"I certainly know what it is to be dropped, I have had plenty of experience. It is always disappointing when that happens, but I never really lost, heart," he says.

Noted for his minute attention to physical fitness and greatly respected by his peers for his undoubted courage on the field, McBride has probably been more deeply appreciated by those who have played, and play, alongside him, than by some observers and selectors.

"I think what sustained me really was self-belief. I am not unrealistic and do not have the physical attributes of some.

players who have displaced me, but I always felt I was as good as them and in some eases, better. I was determined to prove that and you can only do it on the field," says McBride who joined Malone from Queen's University and who has given outstanding service to his club.

After playing in four successive matches in 1988 he made only one appearance in 1989, against Scotland. He then played against France and Wales in the 1990 championship and in the autumn of 1990, he played against Argentina. Ciaran Fitzgerald had just taken over as Ireland coach and as McBride said, "that coincided with a big gap in my career".

It was, indeed a very big gap, two full seasons to be exact. "It. was disappointing, but I always felt I had a chance of getting back."

Gordon Hamilton had emerged on the scene and restricted his appearances for Ulster as well as Ireland, but he was a central figure in Ulster's great run of success in the interprovincials. He was. not in Ireland's 1991 World Cup squad, Hamilton was the first choice at that stage for the open-side flank berth.

But McBride's international prospects seemed to have taken an upward curve when he went to New Zealand with Ireland in the summer of 1992. After just one match on that tour, however, he broke a toe in a freak accident during a training session and had to return home. That was a low point.

But revealing the courage and character that have. marked his career, he fought his way back again. In 1993, he played in all four championship matches for the first time and against Romania in the autumn of 1993. Beating England 17-3 at Lansdowne Road that year will always be a highlight of his career.

The following season he missed only the match against France and again helped to defeat England, this time in Twickenham. He went to Australia with Ireland and won a cap as a replacement in the first Test.

He did not establish a regular place in the side for the 1995 championship, but was in the World Cup squad and scored a try against New Zealand and a memorable and crucial try against Wales which gave Ireland a place in the quarter-final against France.

Last season, he was again omitted in the initial stages of the championship, but was back to play against Wales and England, once more helping to defeat Wales, this time at Lansdowne Road.

If not always in the team, he was always in the frame. Yet again this season, after playing against Western Samoa and Australia, he was dropped for the match against Italy when Erie Miller was played on the open-side flank. However, he came on as a replacement in the match add has held on to the number seven jersey since.

He is one of the Ireland players who is not a full-time professional and will review his position at the end of the season.

On the match against England he says: "It would be true to say we were very down after that match, especially about the final score. When Andy Gomsersall scored, I felt that was the match to England. What we tried to do after that try, just did not come off. Let, us just hope we all learned something from it."

But he believes the players can lift themselves for the match in Murrayfield. "It is important for us and for Irish rugby that we do," says a player who has served Ireland very well and who believes that there are many fine young players coming through.

McBride may be around for a little while yet to challenge those with designs on the number seven jersey. In the interim, he has never played on a winning team against Scotland. He hopes to rectify that on Saturday.