Playing for England was a massive honour and when I was in the team, that was all I wanted to focus on.

With ski jumping I reached a plateau and the more I did it the worse I got.

I vary my days between skiing and snowboarding - I can go fast down pisted runs but still struggle in the bumps on a snowboard.

I started going on ski trips at senior school. I can't remember exactly where but we skied in the Tirol in Austria a couple of times and also went to Val d'Isère in France. When I was 15, rugby took over and there wasn't time to ski any more. I didn't ski again until I was 33.

I said I'll need to get my nose straightened one day so that I can breathe properly and that was translated by the press into me having it done.

In 2011 I stopped playing rugby for England so during the Six Nations, which is on during February and March, I was able to grab a week's skiing. But I still had to take it pretty easy because I didn't want to get injured while I was playing for Gloucester. In 2013, when I retired fully from rugby, I finally had the chance to go a couple of times a season.

I think when you go skiing you have to buy into the après, so it has to be lively for me. There is such a unique atmosphere in ski resorts that it's all about having fun once you get off the mountain and, as a couple, we embrace that.