We can't have any more knocks

It wasn't a misquote. I did say I was always there if anyone needed me but I wouldn't want to have given the impression that I was just out here for the ride, as a sort of social secretary.

I have to be realistic. Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell started the friendly against South Korea and they look like being the first choice in the centre of our defence.

That is not to say I have accepted that as written in stone.

I am not prepared to concede anything at the moment and I will be fighting hard for one of those starting places.

I believe I have played as well in my position as anyone in the Premiership and I firmly believe I have a part to play in this World Cup.

Not so Roy Keane, apparently. We've been trying to keep up with events in the Irish camp and obviouslyit's a pity, after all they have been through to qualify, that it should have come to this.

I have to say, however, that it is not a complete surprise. The situation seems to have been simmering for some time.

We've seen similar things happen to other countries. I can remember Holland being involved in something similar and Brazil and some Eastern European countries have all had their problems in the past.

It's never been quite so close to home though and the Irish will have to batten down the hatches at some stage and just tough it out.

The only problem in our squad at the moment is the queue for treatment. The injuries seem to be coming one after the other and I have known nothing quite so bad in the past ten years. It may not be a coincidence that, in the main, the players who have been suffering these injuries have all been involved in around 50 games over the past season.

You know, if you play that many matches, sooner or later you are going to pick up an injury of some sort but it does seem like fate that they all appear to have happened at once, especially to the same area of the team.

We talk about it as a group because we're all athletes of a kind and we're all looking to minimise the risk of injury as much as possible.

This weekend we're due to leave our camp here on Jeju to travel to Awaji, another island, this time in Japan.

It's been an interesting week. The people here couldn't have been more charming and helpful and the big bonus was the climate.

We expected it to be really hot and humid but it's been quite pleasant, more akin to pre-season conditions in England.

Having said that though, the lads who played the whole game against South Korea on Tuesday night, lost between four and five pounds in weight on average and, even though I played only 45 minutes, I was four pounds lighter by the end.

By all accounts, we're expecting Japan to be more like the conditions we encountered in Dubai but providing we take on plenty of fluids, we should be OK.

It was good to get out of the hotel for a few hours yesterday. Most of the lads played golf and the rest of us just relaxed. Telephoning home has been a problem over here, because of the time difference. By the time we're getting up in the morning, they're asleep at home and, as we've been training in the afternoon, there's been a limited window of opportunity.

Sunday sees our final warm-up match, this time against Cameroon. If they run true to form I think we can expect a robust game but they are in the tournament as well as us and they will also be looking to stay clear of injury.

It should be a good test for us but the the really vital thing is that we stay injury free.

We really can't afford any more knocks before the real thing gets under way.