Here’s to you, monosyllabic John

TUESDAY is very important day in Irish camp. It is the day of the team announcement. Fifteen players will happily step onto the bus, knowing they will play in Saturday’s international.

Seven players will be content to be on the bench but a little frustrated at not getting a starting place. And the remainder will go through the motions at training, knowing that when they return, they will be packing their bags and getting ready to make that lonely journey home. In the last nine years, only two players have walked into that team announcement knowing their place is secure. One, unsurprisingly, is Brian O’Driscoll. The other is the less flamboyant but equally outstanding John Hayes.

Hayes surpasses Malcolm O’Kelly’s record for Irish international caps today at Murrayfield. He has already overtaken well-known legends like Willie John McBride and Mike Gibson. Several of the players who start today began their international careers at the same time as him, but due to his durability and his willingness to play through the pain barrier, Hayes has shot ahead of his contemporaries in the race for international honours. And yet while he has been on the Irish scene for so long now, very little is known of the quiet, enigmatic, tighthead prop.