Now the hunter becomes hunted

YOU KNOW that gumshield of Peter Stringer’s, the one that makes him look like an extra from Jaws?

Jagged-toothed, the shark, looks so out of place, doesn’t it, a choir-boy face that transforms startlingly when that mouth is agape? But there is no illusion; when he puts on his working gear, Peter Stringer IS a shark, voracious, carnivorous. Forget that he’s only 5’7”, forget that in the land of monsters in which he operates, at the base of the scrum in the professional rugby union game, he’s a mere 11st 4lbs — this guy will tackle anyone, in any situation. He doesn’t just welcome contact, he seeks it out.

What must it have been like then for such a competitive individual when, at the beginning of this year, he lost his place to Tomás O’Leary? Not easy, not easy at all.