At the end of another Six Nations, I should start by saying that there is nothing that makes me prouder than playing for my country and every time I do so, I go out there to be the best I can for my team and my nation.

The Six Nations did not go as well as hoped for the team or for me personally, but what is most important to me is that I have stood by my values. I could not have worked harder, thought more or talked more or listened more. I didn’t have a spare bit of energy that was not channelled into preparing for and playing in those games. What happened on the pitch — the product of all that work — is, by definition, where I am and I accept that.

If we started the Six Nations again, I’d be the same: same workrate, same desire, same player. Of course, with hindsight, there are certain decisions on the pitch that I might have changed and certain events I wish had turned out differently, but, on the whole, what you’d get from me would not change.

But the weekly media day, with England, can be hard. You spend up to an hour answering questions that, in the past two months, have been heavy with speculation about the way you are playing and that refer to the negative reports of your performance.

I see it as a challenge to stay true to myself. It is easy to see these questions as an attack on your identity and who you are. It can also feel as if they are taking away what you have worked and striven hard for. And then, when the hour is done, you are expected to turn round, flip straight back into England mode and rugby life.

I can’t deny that I would rather people wrote nothing. Or nicer things. But that’s not why I am in it. If people — not just the media — want to talk about how I am playing, so be it, but I am not in the business of trying to impress people. That is not why I started playing rugby; I was never after rave reviews. I just play the game to enjoy it, to try to help my team to win and to improve as a player and a person.

After all, people in different jobs all round the country are working just as hard as me, but it befalls me as a sportsman to be slightly better known than most. I see myself as very fortunate to be a professional rugby player and I am well rewarded, but I am certainly no more important than anyone else, yet while we are all going about our daily lives, it is my lot as an athlete to be the one who spends an hour every week of the Six Nations being asked about how my job is going.

I appreciate that there have been people — such as Philippe Saint-Andre, my Toulon coach — who have talked publicly about me in a positive way. That is reassuring to hear and I am massively grateful for any support in what I am trying to achieve. But the selection debate really does not enter my mind.

I never see myself in comparison to the player that I was in years past. I have always said that my goal is to get the best out of myself. If that fits in with England — do they see me as being part of what the team require? — then that’s great. The feeling of being dropped from the starting England XV and the heavy disappointment can still prove to be productive. If I continue to be positive and continue learning, if I use that disappointment to learn lessons and improve, then that works for me and I know I’ve not wasted a second.

I was back at my club on Monday morning, straight into — or rather continuing — the process of trying to get better. With regard to how I play for Toulon and England, my ethic at Toulon is exactly the same, I’ve maybe just had more time to learn here. I’ve played 15 or 16 games for the club, which have given me opportunities to see where I stand.

I guess a crucial difference of attitude here is how people view my career. I started playing international rugby quite a few years ago, so it is understandable that some see me at the end of a long career line. But I see my career line as very short: the past seven years have been so interrupted by injury, at the beginning of every long layoff, I see myself starting afresh.

In my eyes, my career line is improving all the time. It has to, because I am striving, experiencing and always learning.

Times Online