The Polynesian guys are pretty strong without going to the gym.

I'm not privy to the English set-up, but at the academies in Ireland, there is a huge focus on the weights room as opposed to whether they can throw a 10-metre pass on the run. They should be rugby players becoming athletes, not athletes becoming rugby players.

I get burnt in the sun, so there's no point me getting pecs for when I take my shirt off in the summer.

I was exposed to the gym at about 28. I never had a huge love or appetite for it - it was just a means to an end.

You go into the Lions camp with preconceived ideas about players and teams and then find guys are actually very different, and the beauty of the Lions is that all those characters are moulded into it. I find that exciting.

I tell you one you straight off in Scotland - Nick de Luca. I don't see his name quoted, but I've played against Nick quite a lot and he is a good player - one of the trickiest centres I've played against.

The 2001 tour to Australia would have been a great highlight in my career if the Lions had won the series. That might sound strange because it was a great tour in many ways, but, for me, the more time goes by, the less of a career highlight it becomes, and just more of a frustration.

The victory is always sweeter... winning things with friends.

I have always played into the belief that you are only ever borrowing the jersey; you never own the jersey because someone has gone before you and there is going to be someone after you, so it's a case of giving the jersey maximum respect.

I need to worry about the things that I am in control of.

Games bring another level out in you. There is no way you can train to the same intensity when you are playing a game. It is just impossible. Your head won't allow you to do it. Because the adrenalin of a game and the importance of it steps it up to another level.

You never sit on your laurels. It is always a case of trying to work on your deficiencies as much as working on your strengths.

I would always treat my attacking game as the more natural part. With defence, you have to get yourself in positions to understand the game and understand situations and that might not be as natural a thing.

Everyone has tests in their life. They come in lots of different forms. I had two or three together, which definitely challenged me as a person and as a sportsman. The big thing is how you react to those situations. You want to come out positively at the other end, and that's what I focused on doing.

When you talk to family and friends, they can't tell you anything from an impartial point of view because they have a vested interest in you.

Dressing rooms can be vicious places, in the best possible way, from a slagging point of view.

I've never bought a sports car.

I had come across a few sports psychologists, and I had no time for nearly all of them. I just don't think they work in a team environment.

For me, it took five years to understand what professionalism meant. But I'm more settled now. I'm married, life changes, and I've been lucky in managing my injuries.

Rugby takes its toll.

As you get older, the defeats become more painful. They definitely hurt more.

I had massive admiration for lots of players. Richard Hill would be up there, along with Martin Johnson.

The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it.

Rugby gave me a confidence. I was quite shy and relatively timid, but it gave me the confidence to be a little bit more out-going and back myself a bit more.