Six Nations rugby: Ban has put me in the mood - Healey

Austin Healey’s tempestuous career has been full of tales of the unexpected.

So it is hardly surprising that he goes into England’s Lloyds TSB Six Nations opener against Scotland on Saturday insisting that his disciplinary ban was just about the best way to prepare for a vital international.

The England wing returned from his latest suspension, a three-week sojourn sparked by his reckless kick on Sale’s Anthony Elliott, to score in Leicester’s Heineken Cup quarter-final triumph over Leinster last weekend.

Healey, who received an eight-week ban for stamping three years ago, reckons he has never felt more reinvigorated.

‘‘Bans are the best things that can happen to you,’’ he said.

‘‘In a strange way when I was banned for eight weeks it was a real turning point in my career.

‘‘It gets the body and mind and everything sorted. You come back more excited and fresh and I can get a better overall picture of what’s expected of me.

‘‘I was genuinely excited to play in the game last week and even more so to play this week for England. I wasn’t jaded before but I feel just a bit fresher than I was.

‘‘I’ve just recently had a daughter and the sleepless nights tend to make you a bit jaded but the whole excitement of it all has been driving me on for the past seven weeks.

‘‘I’m just really happy to be in the team. At this stage last year I was on the bench and staring at the whole Six Nations from the substitutes’ seat. This year I’ve got a place in the team to begin with. You’ve got to fight tooth and nail to keep it in this England side.

‘‘I’ll endeavour to do that to the best of my ability. I always have dramatic seasons, that’s why I love playing rugby. I don’t like being boring and going from season to season and not doing anything different.’’

Boring is a word which could never be applied to Healey.

Brash perhaps. Belligerent maybe. Brilliant certainly. Whatever, a revitalised Healey is just the news England manager Clive Woodward needed to hear from a man who trouble seems to follow around like a pet labrador.

And while it would be asking too much of rugby’s cheekiest chappie to promise never to transgress again, Woodward will be pleased to hear that Healey has set his own timetable of triumph for England’s future.

‘‘I’ve said to myself I’ve probably got six seasons left in me of top class rugby,’’ said Healey, whose profile has by no means been lowered by laser hair treatment which has given him a darker, thicker thatch.

‘‘I want each of them to be very special in whatever way they are, whether it means I’m getting banned and having to come back and play well in the quarter-final of Europe or being dropped by England and fighting my way back in.

‘‘It’s exciting, it’s interesting, it’s not boring. I’ve got big ambitions especially over the next 18 months to three years. The World Cup is hugely important to me. I desperately want to be in the squad for that and having had what I would class as a bit of a season off this year I’m going to double my efforts next year.

‘‘I’ve already told Leicester what to expect from me next year to drive me on a bit and I’m going to be prepared to put in the extra work and whatever it takes to have a brilliant season.’’

First, however, there is the little matter of avenging England’s defeat at Murrayfield two years ago which denied them ultimate glory for the second time in their trilogy of Grand Slam failures.

‘‘It’s two years ago, it’s history, it has no effect on this game,’’ said Healey, one of six survivors of that monsoon-like afternoon.

‘‘We’ve just got to go up to Scotland and do a job. We’re going up there with a stable side and we’re looking to get a victory.

‘‘But Murrayfield is as hard as anywhere in the Six Nations to go to get a win. The kind of passion and skill the Scots play with is doubled when they’re at home. It’s a massive game and it’s going to be incredibly difficult to get off to a good start in this tournament.’’