Don’t turn nose up at Triple Crown

WHAT a difference a win makes. The major disappointment of the loss to France — I can still feel it — the euphoria of the win against England, one extreme to the other — the life of a sportsman.

People tell me all the time how lucky I am, what a great lifestyle we have being paid to play the game we love, coming away for weeks to a luxury hotel like Killiney Castle, and it’s true. But there are downsides, and defeat is probably the worst. The loss against France was a huge blow and we all felt responsible, we all felt we’d let so many people down. Then there’s the lifestyle; you’re well looked after, and we appreciate it, but there’s only so much luxury living I can take. You’d like to be at home with your own family, on your own couch, in your own bed; instead you’re fighting with your roommate for the remote control — I’m with John Hayes for the last few weeks, hard going!

It’s harder for the lads with kids — John and Fiona had a child last year, it’s a lot tougher on him, not seeing his family. I’m okay, but I feel bad for Kate, my wife, at home on her own. You know it’s only for a short time, you’ve got to make the most of it; you feel sometimes you’d love to be at home, the travelling is tough, but then you have days like England, and it makes it all worthwhile. The England game? Everyone was hyped up for days afterwards. The day itself was unbelievable; the highlight – for me anyway — was the national anthem, the emotion that was shown by everybody. The crowd especially, they were fantastic, a very proud day to be Irish. We were on show right across the world, and there was all this hullabaloo about the reception the English anthem might get. I never had any doubt that there was going to be respect shown, and there was, but then the way our anthem was belted out was just magnificent. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a version quite like that before.