Fitzgerald earned the nickname "Pivot" from Leinster and Irish rugby fans due to his exciting runs and sidesteps from broken play.

[5] Fitzgerald's father Des also played international rugby for Ireland, earning 34 caps at prop between 1984 and 1992.

Fitzgerald was part of the Leinster team that beat Leicester Tigers (19–16) to win the 2008–09 Heineken Cup.

After a strong performance against the 'Mid Week Wallabies" playing for Ireland A he won his first cap on 26 November 2006 against the Pacific Islands.

He had a fine game putting in a lot of tackles,[citation needed] notably on Lesley Vainikolo.

He was a member of the victorious Ireland team that won the 2009 Six Nations Championship and Grand Slam where he played on the wing and started every game.

Burger was yellow-carded for the incident, and was subsequently banned for eight weeks for "making contact with the face in the eye area."

He returned from injury at the beginning of the 2010–11 season to start at fullback for Leinster in their first preseason match against London Wasps Rugby Club.