Standing there, watching this mountain of a man, an indestructible soul, wired up in a hospital bed was something that will live with me. It makes me wonder how well I really processed October 2016 in Paris

The shock sacking of Scott Robertson raises uncomfortable questions about leadership, pressure, and what success really means in elite rugby

We are starting a new, thrilling project with young exciting talent in La Rochelle but it will take some time. Is there the patience to wait? Have we got that time? Have I got that time? 

Rugby is a game of shapes and sizes, heft and speed, and if it’s hard to compare the respective attributes of Ox Nche and Damian Willemse in terms of ranking one higher than the other. But we can only try.

Our intrepid columnist finds himself in reflective mood after another brush with authority, admiring Munster's support from afar and, all the while, mixing with the wildlife on South Africa's most southerly tip

A chaotic loss to Castres forces La Rochelle into a blunt assessment of decision-making, scanning and collective responsibility

I come around to asking the same question – are the IRFU digging deep enough on this conundrum? It warrants a serious deep dive into how our World Cup cycles can be better. It hasn’t worked so far.

In the key moments, you can’t make a break every time. Here we defer to the great Dan Carter and the philosophy of great out-half play – simple things done well. Rinse and repeat. Don’t force it, then the gate opens

Irish rugby needs new dreams and inspiration. It needs a new version of itself. We’ve done the No 1-ranked thing. We’ve failed dismally and consistently when it matters. Staleness is an unavoidable consequence of sameness

Jack Crowley has reached a phase of his career where he has seen a lot of the world, and not all of it has been mountains and lakes. He’s at that right age now.