Cian Healy to raise the bat after almost retiring

Ireland prop Cian Healy is set to earn his 100th cap for Ireland this weekend when Andy Farrell's men go in search of Six Nations' glory against France in Paris. The 33-year-old loosehead will become the sixth Irish to reach the milestone following the likes of John Hayes, Paul O'Connell, Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara and most recently Rory Best. 

However, Healy's journey to 100 hasn't been the smoothest as he came extremely close to retiring back in 2015 after surgery on a disc in his neck. Healy was able to move his right hand after suffering nerve damage and had gone as close as signing the documents to confirm his retirement before he regained feeling and movement while on holiday.

“It was broken down into so many stages,” said Healy in the build to his 100th test cap. 

“The first stage of that was being a functional human again and opening the door with keys and simple stuff like that.

“Each time I became capable of something, I’d work on another new standard, something else more achievable. I’d build through them and keep progressing through those goals to get back into the international team again.

“And then get to the standard of the international team, it was a constant drive for fitness and getting my standards up because rugby keeps moving on.”