He is a big unit, to use the common rugby parlance: heavier than his fellow back-rowers – indeed, he weighs significantly more than the second-rowers, barring the Himalayan Simon Shaw – he is also less than an inch shorter than the tallest men in the original party, Danny Grewcock and Ben Kay. It requires only the briefest examination of Newtonian principles to conclude that the combination of a substantial body mass, an unusual degree of pace and lavish quantities of energy and natural dynamism is more than a little desirable when viewed within the rugby context.

"We didn't play, I'm afraid," he said, preferring to discuss the poverty of the collective effort rather than the richness of his individual contribution. "If you're beaten by a better team, you must always hold up your hands ? it happens in sport all over the world, every day of the week, and there is no shame in it. What gets to you is when you don't perform, when there is no justification for the errors you make and the display you produce. That is when it's hard to take.

Why because he tells the truth? It's something your English Manager could learn?