Clohessy exits in a shy way

In a darkened tunnel at the back of the Stade de France the engine was purring gently in the Irish team bus. First aboard, and seated on the back seat with his wife Anna and Luke - his precocious young chip off the old block - it was as if Peter Clohessy actually couldn't wait to get away from it all and, at the same time, in his own shy way would rather have the tradesman's exit than any fanfare.

Bugger it, one more interview. He climbed off and lent against a barrier, reflecting with not an ounce of sentimentality or regret that it was over, nor even taking much personal disappointment from yet another traditional trouncing in Paris.

"It would have been nice to go out with a victory in the last match but sure it wasn't to be. They were much hungrier than us today and obviously, they played much better than us. It was disappointing personally. When I came off the match was already over. What can I say?"

Emotions, he hides them well, but admits that there was a tear in his eye as he lined up for Ireland's Call one last time. "At the start when we were singing Ireland's Call I was thinking this would be my last match. I started to get a bit emotional then."

You could sense it galled him a little that the setpieces were a particularly sore problem area for the Irish pack. "I thought we had solved the line-outs solved against Italy when we were on the right track but today it went back again. They'll have to take a serious look at it."

Likewise, the way the match panned out. "When they got the early try we came back at them with a try of own own and I thought 'it looks like we are starting fresh again here now'. There was only two points in it at that stage. But then they got a try against the run of play when we turned over a ball and they scored from it. From there on things went downhill. There weren't very special memories from today."

As with his debut, ironically at home to France in 1993, he kept hold of his jersey, his 54th and last. "I have my first one and my last one. Most of them have gone to charity, and this and that."

Funnily enough when he first left the pitch there was polite applause from the more knowledgeable sections of the French crowd as well as the Irish contingent. "I noticed that, yeah," he admitted laughing. "I suppose it would have been nice to finish in Lansdowne Road, but other than that I don't mind where it ended."

To earn their grudging respect underlines the scale of his comeback from the nadir of his 26-match ban in 1996 for stamping on Olivier Roumat. Having won merely 16 caps at that stage, to reach the half-century mark, to have a French tight head talking this week of his honour in playing against Clohessy on his last international and to have kept playing test rugby until beyond his 35th birthday only made the the Claw's story all the more remarkable.

There's a scene in Oliver Stone's movie Wall Street where Charlie Sheen's character is about to see his world come tumbling in around him as he suffers the ignominy of being arrested for insider training when his sometime mentor puts his arm around him. Only when man looks into the abyss, the mentor tells him, does he truly discover himself.

Clohessy came back stronger than ever, playing his best and most consistent rugby in his 30s and would be entitled to ride off into the sunset with his held high. It's quite a testament to his resilience and resolve.

Besides, he'll always have Paris two seasons ago. "I'd say winning here two years ago was the best day I had in an Irish shirt."

Not, of course, that he's quite bowed out just yet. There could be the best send off of all. "I'm not thinking of retirement just yet. I'm looking forward to the European Cup. Hopefully, we can win that. That would be a fabulous way to end it."