We want to lay down a marker

IT HAD to happen. I’ve had problems with my calf before, but all week everything was going so well, in fact all year everything was going so well, to the point where I probably got a bit cocky.

All the scrums in the other games, not a twitch, I was beginning to feel, ‘Right, it’s grand now, it’s perfect.’ I probably slackened off a bit in looking after it properly, though in fairness I did go to the pool in the hotel in Scotland on the Thursday after we arrived.

Went out then for the captain’s run on the Friday morning and just in the warm-up, as I went for a sprint, I felt the pop. I knew straight away, same feeling back again, though thankfully it was a good bit down the scale. I could still walk on it, could even hop on it, but when I got back to the hotel it just got that bit worse.