My nutritional knowledge is good enough to figure out what's good, what's bad, and where my leeway is. Votes: 17
Team sports are very important for shaping personalities. It's important that kids understand the mentality behind playing team sports and playing for one another and playing with friends. Votes: 14
If you can be a good role model for people, well, great. You try and live your sporting life and the rest of your life as well as you can, and if it's something that people admire, well, fantastic. I don't sit at home and think about it too much, though - there's plenty of other things in my life going on. Votes: 13
I've got my head fixed on the next part of life. I know there will be an adjusting period of just not being a rugby player for a while, and over that period I'll get my head around what the next challenge involves. Votes: 12
Just because you lost your last game doesn't mean you change anything. Votes: 10
It feels great to be a two-time Six Nations winner. Votes: 10
When you talk to family and friends, they can't tell you anything from an impartial point of view because they have a vested interest in you. Votes: 10
Being recognised by Guinness World Records in their 60th year is a real honour. It's also a real privilege for me to be positioned beside such sporting greats. Votes: 8
You have perspective when little people come into your life. You take the best things you have and let them overshadow your disappointment. Votes: 8
My missus knows to leave me alone. Votes: 8
Practise things you're good at. Keep on top of things you're not so good at, but be world-class at your best. Never think, 'I'm very good at this and that, I can leave those for a bit.' Votes: 8
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. Votes: 7
Games bring another level out in you. There is no way you can train to the same intensity when you are playing a game. It is just impossible. Your head won't allow you to do it. Because the adrenalin of a game and the importance of it steps it up to another level. Votes: 7
I would always treat my attacking game as the more natural part. With defence, you have to get yourself in positions to understand the game and understand situations and that might not be as natural a thing. Votes: 7
If you stick around long enough and you do enough of the right things, you get seen in a largely positive light. Votes: 6
One thing I learnt early on my career is that personal gratification takes second place. Votes: 6
I just want to concentrate on my rugby and enjoy it and live in the moment. Votes: 6
It's rare enough as an older generation player that you're 100% fit - there's always something niggling. Votes: 6
Timmy Horan was a childhood hero. He was a great distributor, elusive, good stepper, very physical, defensively very sound. What a rounded player. Votes: 5
I've never bought a sports car. Votes: 5
You go into the Lions camp with preconceived ideas about players and teams and then find guys are actually very different, and the beauty of the Lions is that all those characters are moulded into it. I find that exciting. Votes: 5
People talk about loyalty of players to clubs. But in the everyday world, you don't see people being loyal to their company when they're getting offered considerably better deals elsewhere. Votes: 4
It's happened a couple of times in training when I hyper-extend my back. Some facet joints send all the muscles in my lower back and lumbar-spine into spasm. Votes: 4
I used to love looking at a recipe, getting all the bits and pieces in the shops, getting them ready and prepared... I don't really have the time to do that anymore. Votes: 4
I don't care that people thought I was one way for my whole career because now that I am not attached to a team, I can have my own opinion, I can have my own voice. I can link myself to my own thought process rather than a generic message most teams try to get across. Votes: 3
I was a football fan before I became a rugby fan. Votes: 3
I was quite small as a kid and maybe a little afraid physically. When I grew into myself, the realisation changed. That when you hurt yourself, it's transient; it doesn't stay forever. Votes: 2
I'm very much a glass-half-full person. Votes: 2
I've always found when I was captain when other people were doing the talking for me, I didn't need to say as much, and when I did say one or two things, people tended to listen all the more. Votes: 2
Everyone has tests in their life. They come in lots of different forms. I had two or three together, which definitely challenged me as a person and as a sportsman. The big thing is how you react to those situations. You want to come out positively at the other end, and that's what I focused on doing. Votes: 1
You cannot say things one week and then behave differently. Votes: 0
I think my form dipped after the Six Nations in 2007, from the World Cup onwards. Votes: 0
There have been a couple of things I've been involved in launching that have been a bit more public, but I've always had other things tipping away in the background. Votes: 0
The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it. Votes: 0
The victory is always sweeter... winning things with friends. Votes: 0
A physical therapist does some unbelievable stretching with me. Votes: 0
Rugby takes its toll. Votes: 0
Rugby gave me a confidence. I was quite shy and relatively timid, but it gave me the confidence to be a little bit more out-going and back myself a bit more. Votes: 0
I'm not privy to the English set-up, but at the academies in Ireland, there is a huge focus on the weights room as opposed to whether they can throw a 10-metre pass on the run. They should be rugby players becoming athletes, not athletes becoming rugby players. Votes: 0
When you've done something for more than a third of your life, your whole adult life, and then all of a sudden you're going to have to switch off and say, 'No more,' you want to grasp as much of it and enjoy the last few years of it as much as you can. Because you can't get those years back. Votes: 0
The 2001 tour to Australia would have been a great highlight in my career if the Lions had won the series. That might sound strange because it was a great tour in many ways, but, for me, the more time goes by, the less of a career highlight it becomes, and just more of a frustration. Votes: 0
You've to celebrate the good days because there are brutal days that make the good ones sweet. Votes: 0
When you are captain, you are never speaking for yourself. Votes: 0
There is still a big onus to be coached. I understand the best teams don't need a huge amount of coaching, but that's when a coach should decide not to do coaching. Votes: 0
I'm fairly adventurous with my eating. I've tried kangaroo, and Moreton Bay bugs, which are a kind of lobster, are so good. Votes: 0
You never sit on your laurels. It is always a case of trying to work on your deficiencies as much as working on your strengths. Votes: 0
Growing up, I supported Manchester United, and my hero was Mark Hughes. Votes: 0
For me, it took five years to understand what professionalism meant. But I'm more settled now. I'm married, life changes, and I've been lucky in managing my injuries. Votes: 0
Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett have both been decent, but Dan Carter takes it on to a different level, and he kicks his goals better than both of them. Votes: 0
Your name or what you've done on the rugby pitch is not going to carry you through for the rest of your life. I realise I'm going to have to eventually do something else, and that does frighten me a little bit. Votes: 0
As the summer moves on, there are Saturday nights when I come home and find friends I haven't even been out with sitting up in the hot tub. Votes: 0
I was exposed to the gym at about 28. I never had a huge love or appetite for it - it was just a means to an end. Votes: 0
The big upside to being captain is it's a huge honour, but the downside is that there is definitely extra pressure. Votes: 0
If you start thinking about retirement in six months' time, you're already there. Votes: 0
The Polynesian guys are pretty strong without going to the gym. Votes: 0
I think training and being dedicated is very important, but one aspect that I always live by is that I enjoy myself in what I do! Votes: 0
I love going out every day and training and being part of the team, and having friendships built up over a number of years. It's those aspects of sport that I feel are really important. Votes: 0
It's 45 minutes after the game right now and I still don't want to take this jersey off. That's because I know that when I do it'll be for the last time... Votes: 0
Last summer was probably the biggest disappointment of my career, but now I have something bad with which to balance the good. I will no longer take anything for granted. Votes: 0