Cian Healy: 'I was a headbanger, I was wild, I loved it'

“I’m not running over to people and burning the ears off them either. I just try and be a very open book so that when lads feel they have a question for me I have an answer for them.” 

WILD: Cian Healy's career has seen him evolve from wild headbanger to mature rounded player. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

From boy to man. Leo Cullen saw it all unfold before his eyes. Now Leinster head coach, he was a veteran 29-year old second row just back from a 24-month stint with Leicester Tigers when Cian Healy was running the first laps of a professional career that will stretch to 19 seasons by the time he retires this summer.

Cullen, like everyone else, could see that this was an “unbelievably explosive” prop but this brick outhouse out of Clontarf was still a teenager when he came off the bench for a provincial debut against the now defunct Border Reivers at a Donnybrook venue that Leinster have long since outgrown as a home venue for the senior team.