A French player, Sylvain Marconnet, broke his tibia skiing in 2007 and missed his home World Cup. For me the risk of breaking something versus the reward was never worth it.

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 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.

Zara [Phillips] skis very well but is happy to take it easy around me. She will often wait for me when I'm on my snowboard but she can really whizz around if she needs to. I only snowboard if I'm on my own with Zara; if we're with other people who want to go a bit quicker, I will stick with skis.

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.