My Life in Rugby: Nick Kennedy – former London Irish, Toulon, Harlequins and England lock

Moving back to London Irish as academy director this summer feels like I've come full circle – I still remember sending Conor O'Shea an email as a 19-year-old asking for a trial!
I'd never have imagined making 208 appearances over 12 years and coming so close to delivering major silverware over my time there.
A series of coincidences led to me making it into the first team at Irish, because I never really took rugby seriously until my second year at Portsmouth University.
Someone watched me play for uni, I got a trial for Bucks county U20s and then I emailed Conor and spent my last year travelling from Portsmouth to Sunbury playing for the U21s – it was stressful!
My debut sticks out, away to Jonny Wilkinson's Newcastle. My friends and family thought it might be my first and last game so they got the train up, a couple even flew up!
Against the odds we won 24-16, and I've still got my shirt up on the wall from that game.
Then came a series of near misses. In 2006 we lost the Amlin Challenge Cup final 36-34 to Gloucester after extra time. Two years later, at Twickenham again, we lost to Toulouse 21-15 in the Heineken semis – we were so close to beating them that day.
A year later we lost the Premiership final to Leicester – I was injured for that, though, after coming off against Harlequins in the semi-final.
It was 10-9 and people ask me if I could have made the difference – in honesty, probably not!
During that time with Irish I also made progress with England. It was England A – not the Saxons – and making my debut for them against Italy was a huge moment for me.
Then came my senior England debut against the Pacific Islanders in 2008. At 27 I was a late bloomer, but to score a try was the stuff of dreams.
I remember people saying that it goes by in a flash. But I'd worked so hard for that moment, and waited for it so long, that I made the most of it – although mum (Jill) said a vein in dad's (Shaun) head popped up which she's never seen before!
My dad has followed me around the world, from Sunbury to New Zealand, throughout the 2009 Six Nations where I played in all of the games and then to France when I pitched up at Toulon in 2012.
That was some year: living in a house on the beach, playing with some of the world's best and winning the Heineken Cup.
We lost the Top 14 final to Castres, but winning the Heineken Cup ranks as one of the top three moments in my career, it was also my first major honour.
It meant the world to me, I still felt I needed to prove something to myself after those near misses with Irish.
I have no regrets in my career, although I perhaps should have stayed at Toulon given their exploits this season. I could have done with a couple more medals!
But playing at Quins last year was great, Conor again gave me the chance and you could say he started my career and finished it. In all seriousness it was a super year for me, Quins are a great club with some fantastic people but now I'm back at Irish and looking forward to my next chapter.
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on June 8.