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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

When you have two-thirds of possession in any match you have got to turn that pressure into points.

If you've got aspirations to be tested to the absolute maximum you want to be in the starting line-up.

If you have any ambitions to improve and be a world-class side, you have to be very tough on yourselves.

To get any win, especially against a Welsh side, is very satisfying.

You bring your strength to the game - that's what I've learnt, and that's what I try to bring to England.

It's important as a team that you don't get too excited with a win and you don't get too disappointed with a loss. You have to stay very steady, very focused on that middle ground.

I love Twickenham. It's the best place on earth to go, even when it's empty.

I wanted to play Super 15. I wanted to develop some maturity, some leadership and to work on my skill set. Also I want to have played all round the world.

I've played with some of the best players in the world, and I've loved every minute of it.

People make very many comments in life when they don't have the background or the knowledge.

I've always been confident in my rugby ability but with England I had to adjust my behaviour.

Wherever I've played, I only affect the breakdowns that are in front of me.

I don't want to become a player who spends half his time running round after the breakdown, because that won't get the best out of me.

My first memory is being taken for Indian food at the Cookham Tandoori on the High Street - I remember the poppadoms, the onions, the chicken tikka.

I was consuming the most food when I came to Wasps. I was eating six meals a day - 250-300g of protein, 300g of carbs, 250g of veg, six times every day. It was extensive, horrific. And tedious.

I'm a white middle-class public schoolboy so I'm not particularly tough. But it turns out I don't mind going in the cage. I can dig in. And it's interesting watching people spar and train. There's no anger. It's all technique and delivered with venom.

People think of rugby players as being tough but it's another thing to stand in front of someone and get kicked, punched, taken down. In rugby you have two contact sessions a week and you play a game on the weekend.

I've learned that, bizarrely, I enjoy having a fight. Obviously nobody likes getting hit, but I don't have a problem with it. In MMA you've got to take a few hits to reach the right position.