I tell you one you straight off in Scotland - Nick de Luca. I don't see his name quoted, but I've played against Nick quite a lot and he is a good player - one of the trickiest centres I've played against.

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.

The victory is always sweeter... winning things with friends.

I have always played into the belief that you are only ever borrowing the jersey; you never own the jersey because someone has gone before you and there is going to be someone after you, so it's a case of giving the jersey maximum respect.

I need to worry about the things that I am in control of.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dressing rooms can be vicious places, in the best possible way, from a slagging point of view.

I've never bought a sports car.

I had come across a few sports psychologists, and I had no time for nearly all of them. I just don't think they work in a team environment.

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.

Rugby takes its toll.

As you get older, the defeats become more painful. They definitely hurt more.

I had massive admiration for lots of players. Richard Hill would be up there, along with Martin Johnson.

The great thing about playing team sport is you win and lose together, and the pain is never as bad when you share it.

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.

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.

I would say I thrive in a competitive environment.

I'm very happy to have been a one-club man, but I wouldn't shoot down guys who have gone off and played in multiple clubs either because, essentially, it is an earning that people are after.

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.

That's what happens in the world. You get offered superior contracts.