Emotional Cian Healy soaks up his 'special moment'

Cian Healy's record-breaking night last Friday almost ended up being a false start.

Around 30 minutes before kick-off ahead of the 34-6 win over the Dragons, the loosehead prop was lying on his side under the posts as a couple of Leinster medics set to work on the back of his thigh.

A few grimaces and striding runs later, the Healy was back up and running. The brief scare wouldn’t stop him playing his 281st game for Leinster, more than anyone in the history of the province.

"I had a little wobble in what I thought was my hammy but it was the adductor on the inside of the leg," Healy said of that injury scare.

"Yeah, it's alright, just got a little bit of a crampy feeling while I was stretching away and it was fine."

The 36-year-old was remarkably candid as he spoke to the media on Friday night. Healy has traditionally held a good poker face when he’s in front of a microphone, so it was refreshing to see him let his guard down and embrace the attention.

In addition to his 281 Leinster appearances, his 131 Irish caps are just two short of Brian O’Driscoll’s record. Between the two, he’s now amassed 412 games in a 17-year professional career, enough games to satisfy two healthy careers.

"I did [take stock] when I landed on 400. I personally thought that was a cool number of games to hit and that to me was like, 'Wow, I didn't think I'd get this many games playing for this club and my country.'

"I took a bit of stock and enjoyed that but it was in the middle of one of the tournaments so it was fairly 'crack on!'," he added.

Healy (above) turns 37 next week, and admitted this season will "probably" be his last. The summer of 2025 would probably be an appropriate time to call it a day, ten years on from the neck injury which he thought