WEIRD - that is the way Ian Gough describes his call-up to the Wales 22 for tomorrow's Six Nations Championship clash against Italy.

He doesn't mean his actual selection back on the bench after a gap of three years, more the circumstances surrounding it.

For one week he was in the Six Nations squad, then told last Monday he would be released to travel to Dubai the next day with Newport Gwent Dragons, played over there on the Friday night, and was then informed this Monday he would be involved with Wales for the Italian test.

"It was really weird," he admitted. "I had a phone call saying I wouldn't be involved in the England game, I was requested to go with the Dragons to Dubai, then 24 hours after getting back I was in again, it was funny.

"We watched the Wales-England game live on the big screen in Dubai at around 9.30pm their time, we got around the pool with many of the Stormers team as well and some Welsh people who had emigrated. We also managed to watch half the Italy-Ireland game. They are a good, physical side, they were determined with a lot of structure, and it's going to be tough for the boys on Saturday.

"It's not often you see an Ireland pack going backwards, and it was the pack who did the damage," he said.

Gough admits he's missed being involved in the Six Nations and all the atmosphere which goes with it.

"It's fantastic to be involved again, I remember the bus ride in to the city with thousands of fans going crazy, and a team on a high now will breed more of that," he said.

"But nobody has got above his station, everyone has got his feet on the ground. Every other year we've lost the first game, but now every team in the whole tournament poses a different threat.

"Now we've got three away games on the trot and if we come through this game it could be the springboard for us.

"I've been about a bit, seven seasons full time now and the game develops. It's an international game now compared with how it was played three years ago.

"There are rule changes and different ways of attacking, it all goes the full circle.

"But Mike (Ruddock) has got a very professional background with the staff here and lots of support, but the principles are still the same. He's a clever guy who has done well."

Gough hopes his injury problems which mainly accounted for his absence from the international scene are well behind him now - his form this season indicates they are. "You always carry injuries, but it's the big ones that take a lot of getting back from, particularly psychologically," he said.

And Gough's verdict on this Welsh team is upbeat. "It went really well against England, we're improving steadily and we're going in the right direction," he said.