#5. He didn’t like rugby when he first started playing it
“I had a lot of energy as a kid and my parents asked me to go down (to the club),” he says.
“But I was very nervous; nervous about not enjoying it. I was also very shy – you may not believe that. But I got to know some of the boys, became mates with them and probably after months of perseverance with my mum and dad taking me down there, I finally enjoyed it and found a love for it. I haven’t looked back since, to be honest.”
His trawlerman father Michael also provided an added incentive to maintain his son’s interest in the game: he gave him the “golden carrot” of £1 for every try he scored. “It’s quite nice when you’re four or five years old and you’re getting £5 off your dad!”