Cian Healy gutted to let the lads down

Devastation is a strong word to use in a mere sporting context, but it is one Cian Healy opted for yesterday as he contemplated the three-week ban handed to him in December for an ugly incident in Leinster’s Dublin defeat of Exeter Chiefs.

He was on a steep upward curve when the Chiefs came to town. After too many years tormented by injury, he had recovered full fitness and his place at the head of the loosehead prop fraternity with club and country.

Healy had spoken in November about the attention paid in the previous year or so to his diet and how he had shed weight and gained mobility. The man even gave up breakfast.