My Life in Rugby: Declan Danaher – London Irish flanker

Playing international rugby there isn’t much place for modesty.
I went to Argentina in 2002 as a 22-year-old and it was amazing – I loved every minute of it and working with Clive Woodward and Andy Robinson had a real bearing on my game.
Back then I was a little bit quiet and should have put myself forward more to win a cap, but I was young and didn’t have the advice of people explaining exactly what was expected of you.
If I had been lucky enough to get another opportunity a few years I think I would have thrived but it wasn’t to be.
When I was a kid I had no interest in rugby – it was just soccer until the age of 14 when I took to rugby pretty quickly.
At university I tried to combine an engineering degree with rugby, which didn’t really work out – I chucked that and didn’t finish it. That is probably one of my regrets but I had to do it at the time.
I had found my way into the London Irish set-up and I was playing at No.8 until I was 19, but then converted to seven. Basically when I trimmed myself down it was like ‘right, well now you are going to be a No.7′.
I was happy to do the donkey work and let the others do their thing. As the years went on I became more of a six than a seven. Most people wish they could be taller but I sometimes wished I could be a couple of inches shorter!
When I first arrived I don’t think I would have envisaged spending so long at Irish. I spent my first year fairly frustrated, not able to get too much first-team rugby.
If you have said to me 15 years ago I would be at one club for the rest of my career I wouldn’t have believed you. But very soon there was a sense of home and somewhere I fitted in and belonged.
When I was 26 I was lucky enough to find myself with a group of guys with a similar drive and passion. It was just a fun, fun time to be part of it and I was lucky to experience that.
Winning the Powergen Cup in 2002 with such a big win over Northampton was pretty fantastic but when we got to the Premiership final in 2009, losing to Leicester by just a point – a year after narrowly losing the Heineken Cup semi to Toulouse at Twickenham – that was the most fun I had.
I was probably at my peak then and they were good times and I enjoyed every minute of it and that is the one period that sticks out the most.
My send-off at the Bath game in March was a sense of closure on my career – it was a wonderful day.
It was a great honour and I am very privileged that the club gave me an opportunity to say goodbye like that. It was a great day and it was nice for my kids to experience that at the end with the lap of honour.
I have joined the academy now and hopefully I will join up and do little things with the senior team as well. My main aim is to bring the academy back to where it was a couple of years ago.