My Life in Rugby: Marco Bortolami – Zebre, Italy and former Gloucester lock

Watching my Gloucester teammates lose the 2007 Premiership final while I sat on the sidelines helpless is one of the toughest experiences I've had as a player.
I'd only arrived at Gloucester that season, fulfilling an ambition of playing in England.
I came in and was given the captaincy straightaway and we had a really good season.
Unfortunately I had to pull out at the last minute, Mike Tindall was also missing, and then Peter Buxton went off injured early on.
It was tough for our young guys taking away all that experience and in the end we couldn't match Leicester.
My time at Gloucester was the best I played in my career and the support at the club is just incredible.
I stayed at Kingsholm for four years, and having taken a fair amount of time to decide to join, I have no regrets about the decision.
They had been the first ones to get in touch with me so I came over and had a look and decided it was definitely the right move.
Dean Ryan is still one of the biggest influences on my career and it was great working with him.
Being captain was something I was already used to, having captained Italy for the first time when I was 21.
I made my debut in 2000 on a long tour to South Africa, playing my first Test against Namibia. I was playing in the back row then, and still with my first club Petrarca Padova. That was a real tour with eight games over about 40 days.
After the Namibia Test I played against South Africa in the next match – great fun for a young guy coming into the team.
I got the captaincy in 2002 for a match in New Zealand. It was a baptism of fire, especially with a lot more senior players in the squad.
I enjoyed the experience though, I was a very different captain to how I am now.
John Kirwan was the coach at the time and he had a lot of faith in me. He's probably had more impact on me than anyone else in my career, in fact probably my life.
I was very young and it was a dream to have an All Black legend as a coach. He knew so much about the game and gave me a lot of advice.
In 2004 I got the chance to leave Padova, where I had played with Mirco Bergamasco, and where Mauro Bergamasco had also started.
I was 24 and moved to Narbonne in France. At the time they were in the Top 14 and although we weren't really targeting the play-offs, we had two very good years while I was there.
Then, after four years with Gloucester I got the chance to return to Italy with Aironi. It was a good opportunity for me. I'd  studied mechanical engineering but had to stop when I got into rugby. Going back allowed me to continue that.
It was a different time in my career and a good project for me but the situation at the club didn't quite work out.
Now I'm with the Zebre but unfortunately I've had to have three shoulder operations which has set me back a bit.
I'm working on my rehab and the target is to be back fit again in January or February. Hopefully for the Six Nations, although the doctors think that is a little bit optimistic.