He’s the first Irishman to win a Heineken Cup medal. So why don’t you recognize him?

He’s put his rugby days behind him, locked them down and thrown away the key, but before Munster and Leinster began their European rugby odyssey, one Cork man already had a Heineken Cup medal to boast of. Not that he would. Brian Roche spoke to Adrian Russell

SOME guys lay sport’s hard-earned baubles out on a sideboard for all to see, long after fresh mud has been scraped from a career’s boots. And why not? It’s hard enough to win something, right?

Others, however, wrap life’s medals in yesterday’s headlines and tuck them into a shoebox, out of sight. Winners don’t pin victory to their lapel.