If no one ever made a mistake we'd never get anywhere. One side would keep the ball until half-time and the other team would do the same for the whole of the second half.

I hate losing and I think it's good to feel a stab of anger if it happens.

Rugby is a sport in which you can lose heavily one week and still come back and smash the opposition the next.

Some people think of players and supporters as 'them' and 'us.' The truth is that we do what we do because we are all fans at heart.

I reckon every player feels much the same on the eve of a Six Nations championship. We all want to finish top, win the title and do our respective countries proud in the process. We're also aware a lot of other people are seeking precisely the same thing. Pessimism and optimism collide like two ferrets in a sack.

If anyone out there is mildly curious about rugby, I'd recommend a weekend spent watching the Six Nations. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

If your form dips as a back-row forward, it is best to address the areas you know you're going to be heavily involved in.

There is nowhere to hide as an international back-row forward.

At most grounds you're not particularly conscious of the crowd but in Cardiff, with the roof closed against a good Welsh team, the noise is impossible to ignore. It can be loud enough to put you off your game and the Welsh undoubtedly possess some of the most passionate fans in the world.

Actions always speak louder than pre-match words.

In my limited experience, you have to make your own decisions in life and experience things for yourself.

Going to Stade Francais will not just make me a better player but make me a better player for England.

My favourite Heineken Cup memory as a player was undoubtedly sharing in Wasps' final triumph in 2007.

To be the best in the Heineken Cup or the Top 14 you've got to win home and away.

Trust me, Stade is not a comfortable place to be if you're losing, regardless of the venue.

Fulfilling your ultimate childhood wish is a surreal experience.

It's one thing to get beaten by a side who are a lot better than you, it's quite another to know you've thrown victory away in a game you should have won.

It doesn't matter if you've got the best team in the world, you can't play rugby on your own try-line.

I do not want to gain a reputation for lacking discipline because I always look to play within the laws.

All players want nice things to be said and written about them and you have to take the reverse in equal measure.

International rugby is an unforgiving arena.

As a schoolboy I can recall playing three games a week and not even feeling it.

As a player you have to look after your body because no one else will. I'd rather be proactive than kowtow to everyone and be injured all the time.

Matches aren't won on the training field and there is no point flogging experienced campaigners unnecessarily.

To stay at the elite end of professional sport you need to show an awful lot of dedication.

I've lost count of the times I've been asked what I do for a living. When I say rugby people say: 'Yes, but what's your other job?'

I think as a professional sportsman you're aware that your time is limited.

A lot of people make the error of thinking rugby is going to last forever and they need to quickly discover that that isn't the case.

In reality, rugby is finite and unpredictable, so players need to have skills off the pitch too.

When I was about 15, I learnt that training hard doesn't get easier, you just learn to push harder. That's a powerful mentality to master.

When I started my professional rugby career, in 2002, there was one guy filming training if you were lucky.

I think 5G is going to make a dramatic difference in sport and beyond.

In rugby I think it is good to have a bit of a persona, a bit of a character because we are one of the last things that isn't necessarily controlled.

It was so important to have stuff outside of rugby so you have a life balance. I took a lot of criticism for that earlier in my career and thank God I ignored what everyone else said and did what I was always going to do.

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 14. Weirdly enough, I then learnt, through doing different things, to concentrate.

When I am doing something I give it 100 per cent. I work on it, do it and go onto the next thing.

Do I respect my competition? Yeah. Do I always think that I could do a better job? Of course.

I'm always pretty fair-handed.

I like to think I am honest and open.

I like my boxing and jiu jitsu and that kind of stuff and one thing I always enjoyed from an early age was shooting. My godfather got me into it. It started with airguns and shotguns and that kind of stuff.

Shooting's not actually a bad place to take a girl on a date, unbelievably.

If you get an opportunity to win any silverware you take it.

Going to a final and winning is the best thing in life, and it makes rugby no longer a job. It makes it fun.

The best players aren't necessarily the biggest.

At some point, the power side of the game has to peak, players can't get much bigger. Guys will be doing more footwork and explosive-speed stuff.

In order to pack on the most amount of muscle from your training, you need to train specifically for hypertrophy.

Good nutrition must be at the core of all that you do training and health wise.

Although the TV commercials will try and have you believe otherwise, there is nothing good about breakfast cereal. No matter how 'low fat' or 'high in fibre' the box tells you it is, ditching the high sugar cereals is the first step you need to take towards a better breakfast.

I'm all about helping people understand more about exercise in general and more specifically on occasion, about certain key parts of their body and physique.

Front squats and trap bar deadlifts are the two best big compound movements for quad growth.