Quotes from Gareth Thomas

You cannot afford to take any risks where your health is concerned.

When I first started at Bridgend, I'd see the amount of work Rob Howley put in on his own after the team had all gone home. He was doing ridiculous amounts. So I started training like him. Always on my own.

I really want to remain involved in rugby. I want to continue and have an influence on the game.

If you can't give 100% to rugby then you can't do it justice.

If I hadn't had the rugby field to get rid of my aggression I would have been locked up a long time ago.

Wherever I am in my life, it's because rugby has enabled me to do that.

I know that my parents sacrificed a hell of a lot to make sure that my brothers and I would have all that we needed.

Someone said on social media that I was the son of Satan for being open about my sexuality. I told my mother, and she laughed and said, 'Well, what the hell does that make me?'

When I got married to my ex-wife, Jemma, I took my vows very, very seriously. I've been brought up with good values and I don't go into anything thinking: this is just for the sake of it - it's not going to last.

You tell that to people until you are blue in the face and they struggle to believe it, but I am being totally truthful when I say that all that matters to me is Wales winning.

It has always been my ambition to be captain of Wales over a sustained period of time.

When the Wales squad met up for the 2005 autumn internationals, I was already concerned that we were slipping into bad habits. And, yes, the role of head coach Mike Ruddock was, in my opinion, becoming a problem that would eventually need to be addressed if nothing changed.

Everything I ever did in my life when I was younger revolved around wanting to play for Wales, and then you get that cap... it's hard to describe.

Toulouse opened my eyes as a player and as a person. I returned to Wales 10 times better for the experience. I admit that when I went there I was not life-savvy: I was a wild child who lived life instinctively. I would walk past a building and not even notice it.

I wish Mike Ruddock nothing but the very best in whatever he does in the future. I will always remember him as the guy who had the confidence to make me captain of Wales.

People can be really famous in Wales for rugby, but outside of Wales nobody really has a clue who you are or what you've done.

Sometimes, players find it impossible to see the bigger picture after games for the simple reason that we are the ones who have actually played.

If you could bottle that special feeling you sometimes get in a dressing room just before a match, you'd be a billionaire.

My sport was my comfort. The routine, the camaraderie, the team... everyone's around you. After rugby you're on your own.

People say getting fit is 90% diet and 10% exercise, but that's bollocks. If you train hard you earn the right to a chocolate bar.

My brain acts bizarrely and I keep having major mood swings.

I was never ever attracted to any of my rugby mates; I was really good at switching off my emotions and I wouldn't have even considered crossing that line.

It's only when you leave the rugby bubble that you understand that negative criticism is not personal, it's reality because we don't always get everything right.

When you cross the whitewash, you only think about the present.