"I looked like a big red bus" - Five simply brilliant Jason Leonard stories

The loosehead-prop was the youngest man ever to pack down in England's front row when he made his debut aged 22 against Argentina in 1990.

Fourteen years later he retired as the only English player to rack up a century of Test appearances, and was for a time the world's most capped player.

Here are some of our favourites tales from his incredible rugby career..

Just before we headed out to the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, all the players agreed on a booze ban when coach Jack Rowell discovered that someone had come in at 2am. He accused me at training the next day and I flatly denied it. As I told Martin Bayfield standing next to me: "It couldn't have been me Bayf - I didn't get in until 4am." Poor Bayf just burst out laughing.

Coming back from injury, Leonard was called up for an England tour to South Africa 1993 despite putting on a bit of weight. We had these big cotton shirts, which were bright red and looked skin tight on me. Martin Bayfield, because of my London accent and the red shirt, thought I looked like a big red bus, hense 'fun bus'.

Extract from Jason Leonard's autobiogaphy.

In this video, he picks a couple involving Australasia's Prime Minister and the late, great Nelson Mandela.

Jason Leonard's funniest moments in Rugby from Rugby Business Network on Vimeo.

Prop Jason Leonard noted that he had 28 pints of lager and when the astounded, part-time nutritionist asked just exactly he was up to each week to consume 28 pints, he was met with a confused look. "That's 28 pints on the Saturday and eight to settle the head on Sunday," Leonard replied.