I need to worry about the things that I am in control of.
— Brian O'Driscoll
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.
Dressing rooms can be vicious places, in the best possible way, from a slagging point of view.
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.
I had massive admiration for lots of players. Richard Hill would be up there, along with Martin Johnson.
I've got my head fixed on the next part of life. I know there will be an adjusting period of just not being a rugby player for a while, and over that period I'll get my head around what the next challenge involves.
People talk about loyalty of players to clubs. But in the everyday world, you don't see people being loyal to their company when they're getting offered considerably better deals elsewhere.
I found in the past when I did a bit of punditry, I was very conscious of not saying anything negative about people I played against, because players are elephants and they remember when someone says something - I stored things for years and just waited for my opportunity.
I'm fairly adventurous with my eating. I've tried kangaroo, and Moreton Bay bugs, which are a kind of lobster, are so good.
My missus knows to leave me alone.
Timmy Horan was a childhood hero. He was a great distributor, elusive, good stepper, very physical, defensively very sound. What a rounded player.
If you stop doing a skill you've done for years for any period of time, there's an adjustment period to get it back. In anything you do. Motor skills won't work as fast, because repetition is everything.
You've to celebrate the good days because there are brutal days that make the good ones sweet.
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.
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.
I've never bought a sports car.
Rugby takes its toll.
The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it.
I would say I thrive in a competitive environment.
That's what happens in the world. You get offered superior contracts.
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
I used to love looking at a recipe, getting all the bits and pieces in the shops, getting them ready and prepared... I don't really have the time to do that anymore.
One thing I learnt early on my career is that personal gratification takes second place.
There's ego in all of us rugby players.
What do you remember about Jason Robinson? His feet. Not how improved he was under a high ball or his kicking skills. Everyone remembers those feet. He could go round you in a phone box.
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.
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.
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.
As you get older, the defeats become more painful. They definitely hurt more.
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.
I'm very happy to have been a one-club man, but I wouldn't shoot down guys who have gone off and played in multiple clubs either because, essentially, it is an earning that people are after.
A physical therapist does some unbelievable stretching with me.
My nutritional knowledge is good enough to figure out what's good, what's bad, and where my leeway is.
Just because you lost your last game doesn't mean you change anything.
It's happened a couple of times in training when I hyper-extend my back. Some facet joints send all the muscles in my lower back and lumbar-spine into spasm.
Until you win a series, it's difficult to place yourself in that elite group of great Lions players. It's not enough to produce one-off performances or be nearly-men.
Practise things you're good at. Keep on top of things you're not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, 'I'm very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.'
