Still in love with the game

He is preparing for the end now.

The player agency he set up with Duffer, the app he is launching this week – small pieces that are being pushed into place for the day when he finally hands over those iconic number 13 jerseys to the next generation and dons the civvies for good. Will it be in the summer? Will he wring another cherished year out of himself? Who knows? He won’t talk about it. Not now. Not when there are games to be won, boxes still to be ticked. A fourth Heineken Cup, with the final to be played in Dublin. November Tests. Another Six Nations. One last Lions tour.

What a way it would be to bow out and yet who amongst us wants to see him leave? What’s clear is that, had he the choice, he would continue to play forever. He would be rugby’s Peter Pan. As he sat down to chat earlier this week, that boyish love of the game was as obvious as the trademark smirk on his face. After, appropriately enough, 13 years of professional rugby, he still talks about the game like a breathless child at Christmas.