‘Thank God I’m playing with him, not against him’

SHANE Byrne and Reggie Corrigan’s first memories of John Hayes are oddly similar.

“I remember the talk about a young fella down around Munster who was inexperienced but a mountain of a man...” says Corrigan.

Byrne chimes in: “Like most people I’d heard of this lad who wasn’t long playing rugby, and it was a case of who is he and so on. Then, when you saw him, it was mother of Jaysus, who is this? People don’t get it because on the telly he doesn’t look as big, but he’s enormous, and one of the strongest men I’ve ever met. He certainly made an impression.”