Hayes a national treasure, and no bull

Ireland v England: Gerry Thornleytalks to the mighty man upon whom Ireland's hopes have long been propped

Match day. A 5.30 kick-off will mean a later start, so he'll have a bit of a lie-on before coming down to the tea room for breakfast. He'll have some porridge, a bit of tea and toast. He never requests anything special. His match-day ritual isn't especially ritualistic. As ever, John Hayes will be quietly in his own world.

Back to his room then. Resting is the key, with a bit of fresh air for the lineout fine-tuning in the hotel grounds and the customary pre-match lunch: pasta and chicken. Again, whatever's there. Back to the room, pack his bags and hydrate as much as possible. He's not into playing tunes on an iPod. "I got one, but Fiona has it," he explains, Fiona being his wife, Ireland women's international Fiona Stead.

He prefers to just look and watch on the coach journey to the ground, taking in the crowd and the pre-match atmosphere. He still gets the butterflies, and reckons today, his 71st Test match, will be as bad as ever.

"I still do, some days worse than ever. The stomach is rumbling. But sometimes it's good to feel it. Ireland-England is always a big game."

The Bull becomes Ireland's sixth-most-capped player of all time this evening. Throw in 69 Heineken European Cup appearances, second only to Anthony Foley in Munster's fabled Euro folklore, and it's not unreasonable to suggest that Hayes has been the cornerstone of the rejuvenation in Irish rugby since the turn of the millennium.

Post-Lions, there were times last season when it seemed the 32-year-old's 6ft 4in, 20-stone frame was beginning to wilt. But, after careful husbandry by province and country, he came through a rumoured period of self-doubt, if not crisis, and this season, according to the coach who knows him best, one-time Shannon, Munster and now Irish forwards coach Niall O'Donovan, is playing as well as ever.

O'Donovan is not alone in believing Hayes should have won his first man-of-the-match award for his performance in Ireland's opening win in the Millennium Stadium. As ever, whenever it comes under the most scrutiny, the Irish scrum held up well and Hayes augmented his good work there with his customary impression of a human forklift at lineout time and being the game's third-highest tackler, cutting down nippier, more nimble men in open country.

Somehow, though, being interviewed post-match and picking up a bottle of champagne wouldn't be Hayes's style. A rare audience with the farmer-cum-welder from Cappamore this week in a quiet corner of the team hotel in Killiney prompted disbelieving glances from team-mates. "Media whore," as one said sardonically, for he is anything but.

The next day would be a day off, but for him there would only be rest. Even if it were permitted, it comes as no surprise to learn that golf is not his bag. Such is his frustration with the game, he says, he'd be more inclined to bend his club around a tree.

Growing up, the only other sports he ever played were Gaelic football and hurling, with the local club and Doon CBS, alternating between full back and full forward as a gangly lad who'd reached his full height by 16.

"I wasn't any good," he insists, despite making a 50-man Limerick minor panel briefly.

Hayes became drawn to rugby when watching the 1991 World Cup. He'd just finished school, and fancied giving it a go, but admits he probably wouldn't have but for a friend, John O'Dea, or "Jack Day" as he's called locally, bringing the then 19-year-old up to Bruff one Tuesday evening.

"I wouldn't have rumbled into a club on my own."

His first foray, the following weekend, was almost the stuff of legend, a celebrated 0-0 draw between Bruff and Newcastle West.

"I can genuinely remember, and this is a fact, I hadn't a clue. I'd had two training sessions. I remember just running and not knowing what to do. I knew not to head the ball, but I wouldn't have had a clue about half the rules. But I loved every minute of it, and going home afterwards knowing this was something I wanted to do. I couldn't wait to get back on Tuesday night for training. I can remember that as clear as day."

There were many steps along the way, the absence of an under-20 team in Bruff meaning a swift move to the Shannon under-20s and then on to their senior team and their winning culture, and a couple of summers with Marist in Invercargill at the behest of a Kiwi, Kynan McGregor, who is now back in Bruff with his Irish wife.

"I kind of did a crash course in rugby. I played a year with Shannon, and then went straight down there, I'd say 12 years to the day now, the 20th or 21st of February," he recalls, checking the date on his watch. "So I started a club season there, returned in August for another season with Shannon, then I played another season down there and back again, so I kind of played four seasons together. It was a good crash course."

New Zealand was the making of him in many ways. He bulked up and was converted into a tighthead by the Marist coach, "Doc" Cournane. "I was nearly 23 when I came back. I put on a lot of weight, and at the same time lineouts changed and lifting came in after the 1995 World Cup. I'd become too heavy to be lifted so I was changed to prop, and having learnt a bit from playing in the second row, I had to learn all over again. It was non-stop."

Another significant move was being surprisingly fast-tracked into the Ireland squad to tour South Africa in 1998. "I was working up to a week before the tour as a welder. Loads of boys had been on schools tours to Australia, but the only games I'd ever played were to go in the morning or come home in the evening, or maybe overnights with Shannon."

He had to ask Anthony Foley what to pack in his bag. He was rubbing shoulders with expats like Keith Wood, Richie Wallace, Malcolm O'Kelly, Conor O'Shea and the rest of the London Irish crew, players he'd never met, much less played or trained with.

An old-style tour. Hayes played as a replacement in the games against Boland, South West Districts and Griqualand West before starting the final midweek game against North West Districts. "The standards and intensity at training at international squad sessions were up. Even training during the day was a new experience. All the training I'd ever done was at night time. I'd never even done weights before then. But I remember coming home and I couldn't wait to get started."

Immediately awarded a full-time contract, Hayes revelled in his new lifestyle.

"Suddenly work is gone. You're just doing what you love. Fellas for years before us gave huge commitments to playing for Ireland, whereas we got to do it as a job."

The return of Wood, along with the arrival of John Langford, to Munster in the 1999-2000 season brought new levels of professionalism and a more demanding attitude.

"Honesty is a lot of it. Niallo (O'Donovan) is still here with Ireland to this day and there's just no bullshit talked. Niallo says it as it is. He'll still come up to any player, it doesn't matter who it is, and make an honesty call. It's just an honesty they instil in you. Just no bullshit."

Hayes went with the Munster flow into the Ireland team, along with Peter Stringer, Ronan O'Gara, Simon Easterby and Shane Horgan, as well as the recalled Mick Galwey and Denis Hickie, for that rejuvenatory win over Scotland in 2000.

Good times, with some great wins, he admits, but with that has come changed ambitions. "It's great getting one-off wins over South Africa, Australia or whoever, but silverware at the end of the day is what you want. It's something to show for your career."

Which is why May 20th with Munster in Cardiff stands out as the day of days so far. "Silverware can be scarce. Yes, that's true. There were a lot of players on the team last May who had been there seven, eight or nine seasons trying and a lot of fellas had lost two finals. Players like Gaillimh and Claw had played 150 times for Munster and had won interpros, but this was something we really wanted to win for years. We didn't win it easy. We'd seen the downside of it before we saw the good side, so it definitely was won."

Throughout it all, his comparatively rare bad days have always been highlighted more than his many understated good ones. Water off a very large back.

"I wouldn't have it any other way at this stage," he says, smiling broadly. "Like, tackle count or whatever, if players run at you you're going to tackle them. Some days they won't and it's very annoying. You think 'Jesus, was I not working hard enough?'

"There are days when you finish the game and you feel good in yourself, until you go in and look at the video analysis. Why didn't I run harder there and I could have been on his shoulder? Or why didn't I do this or do that? So no matter how good you feel, there's always something more you could have done."

O'Donovan believes Hayes is playing as well as ever because he is scrummaging as well as ever. Another expert in this field maintains Hayes is planting his left foot forward more and not surrendering his right shoulder. Certainly the sight of Hayes being directed inward or skyward is much less commonplace.

In any event, quite where Munster and Ireland might have been these last eight years but for the Bull is moot. As for his lifting, Mick Galwey and Langford both maintain Hayes helped prolong their careers by a couple of seasons. Now 33, he's far from sated, but harbours no regrets either. "Don't look back now, not while everything is still possible. It's still possible to win another Heineken Cup, like, so I'll look back on all that when I'm finally finished."

"It's been a good journey," he says, with typical understatement. "It's ongoing, hopefully, it's not finished yet. I just want to keep playing well and see how it goes. If the body is feeling good, I'll stay playing because it's just a great place to be."

And his motivation remains the same: "The feeling of winning coming off the pitch, playing for Ireland or for Munster, is the best. It's just a sense of pride. You're representing where you're from. It's unbelievable."