Caelan, I mean, no disgrace losing to that brilliant Bordeaux side, but I imagine, um, a very disappointing day.

Definitely, yeah.

Like you've gotta credit them, firstly.

I mean, we've scouted them thoroughly obviously over the last number of weeks and seen what they've been capable of.

Um, we knew that if we didn't win the gain line in the context, that quick ball, they're very, very hard to deal with, and we saw that in the first half.

Um, obviously a couple of scraps they caught and intercept and felt like a big mountain to climb then in the second half.

But I think a bit of a theme of the season for us has been finding a way.

Does it feel any, any different when you know that, um, there's nothing too much to regret in terms of little moments because Bordeaux were at one point, you know, so far ahead?

Six Nations captaincy I just want to talk about the I suppose the pressures of it and especially now in the condensed format how different that might feel from a leadership point of view

yeah I think in some ways we're fortunate that we're starting a Thursday so we've got a what nine ten day turnaround to the following one then it's only one seven day and then we've got the down week so I mean it's You know yourself, you're used to playing with clubs three or four games in a row quite a bit, so obviously stakes are a little bit higher in Six Nations, but in terms of our bodies and our minds, we're adjusted well.

I'm just off the back of three in a row there, so a little bit more emphasis on physical and mental recovery.

Faz has been in rugby environments since he was a teenager for so long, so he understands that very well.

He understands the needs and the emotional desires of the group as well, so he'll manage that well, I'm sure.

We've just

to shutting out the outside noise, there's always so much chat around Irish rugby as a... huge committed fan base you've got a really you know engaged rugby media which is great for the sport but in terms of things like you know your fly halves you've got some quality options but there's always a bit of chatter about that how would you as captain kind of work with these guys one minute they might be picked one minute they might be on the bench and just sort of making everyone feel really you know part of it?

Yeah, I think it's about getting an arm around them, understanding, regardless of who's selected in the 23, that everyone plays a key role and that what's most important is the team's performance.

What was that like in school,

though? yeah it was like not only were they stuck there but my dad's an artist as well they've been into meditation for years they would have taken us to ashrams in india for a couple of weeks each year in school so um they were definitely different and there was probably a big desire for me just to fit in and sort of yeah that was probably one of the reasons why i was very happy to go to boarding school to get away from the the strange folks at that stage I've come full circle and I'm probably just as weird as them now.

But yeah, it was different.

I mean, I wouldn't have been I probably.

Yeah, push myself away from some of their interests and I didn't really want to go there for years, even though they would have gently encouraged meditation or different things like that.

But it's I think you find your own way back to these things and.

at the right time you'll seek it out yourself and i mean that's what happened for me um so yeah to go back to your initial question like it's i just from my own personal experience i i think what's helped me a lot is being more open is um feeling what's actually there getting to the root of things um is speaking to other people is meditating there's a lot of these kind of mental tools for mental fitness as Tackle Your Feelings talk about in their campaign and I just would encourage younger people older people old people to yeah to lean on each other to be more open to feel more and to suppress less

You know, they are the moments that you, you know, you can question yourself and, you know, you could spiral if you hadn't processes of good people around you.