His mates call him "trucky" because when he first hit the international scene he used to eat a truckers breakfast when everyone else would be eating a healthy pre-match breakfast of fruit and yogurt. Others call him "helmet" because of his immovable hair style, a 25-knot south-westerly blowing off Moreton Bay in his home town of Queensland or a Jonah Lomu tackle have been known not to move a hair on his head. One thing that he can't be called is an average rugby player. Tim Horan, the legendary Wallaby center, spent some time on these shores recently and sat down with The Japan Times to talk about rugby. If there is any doubt regarding his classification as "legendary," let me lay those doubts to rest.

Tim Horan

Tim Horan entered the unforgiving world of international rugby in 1989 at the age of 19 when most lads of his age are still coming to terms with how to deal with a hangover. In the space of 12 years he managed to come back from a crippling knee injury, which doctors feared would inhibit his ability to ever walk again, to play in three World Cups, winning two of them -- one of only a handful of players to do so.

Together with Jason Little, he formed the most feared center-pairing in world rugby for almost a decade, picking up trophies with his native Queensland and the Australian national side.

So Tim, the obvious question, what are you doing in Japan? Since my retirement from international rugby, I have been playing club rugby in England for Saracens. The Japanese flyhalf, Ken Iwabuchi, is a teammate of mine out there and he asked me if I wouldn't mind coming over to Japan to assist with some coaching, which I was more than happy to do. I want to put something back into the game which has given me so much and the prospect of doing a bit of coaching in a developing rugby nation such as Japan really appealed to me. I am working with the Keio University team and Shimizu, a second division team, assisting their backlines.

Japan has recently played two tests against Wales -- what do you think of Japan's rugby at present and what advice could you offer in terms of improving the game here?

I strongly believe that there is a lot of talent out here that needs to be unearthed and nurtured. Japanese players tend to be fast and skillfull which is very useful in the modern game. To move up to another level, however, the game would need to take more steps toward becoming fully professional as it is in other major rugby-playing nations in the world. Also it would do no harm for some of the players to spend some time playing abroad, learning the rugby culture from some of the traditional powerhouses of the game. Take Ken (Iwabuchi) for example. His game has come along tremendously since he has been playing his rugby for Saracens.

What's it like playing in the English league and how would the standard compare to the Super 12?

The standard is improving all the time although the Super 12 is certainly stronger. One or two teams such as Bath or Leicester would hold their own in the Super 12.

In 1994 in the then Super 10 competition, you shattered your knee in a sickening injury in Durban, playing for the Queensland Reds against the Natal Sharks. Doctors said that you may never walk unassisted again. Yet just over a year later you played in the 1995 World Cup. Talk us through that experience.

Since rugby was not yet professional in those days, my main concern was just to be able to get back to the stage where I could live a normal life, working for "XXXX" beer in Australia, playing with my kids and getting out on to the golf course.

What's your handicap?

Depends on who I am playing and whether we are playing for money or not. No, usually around 14. Anyway the hardest thing was to prepare myself mentally for playing rugby again as you can't focus properly if you are worried about getting injured.

Another famous incident occurred before the semifinals of the 1999 World Cup in Wales when you got a touch of food poisoning before the game against the Springboks. Most of us wouldn't have been able to get out of bed yet you played a stormer and won the Man of the Match award for your performance.

Yeah. Well I hadn't eaten for two days and had lost about 3 kg in the process. I decided to just play for as long as I could and found that my adrenaline just kept me going. I eventually came off the field in the 75th minute believing that the game was already won. (Although the Australians did eventually win the match the South Africans came back in the last five minutes, significantly after Horan left the field, to send the game into overtime.) After winning the final a few of us just sat in the changing rooms for three hours as we knew that that was a very special moment in our lives that we would not get a chance to experience again and we didn't want the moment to end.

How do you prepare for a game? Do you have any superstitions or pre-game rituals? I used to have loads. But as you get older and play more games you tend to lose your superstitions because as soon as you lose a game you abandon that particular superstition as it obviously no longer works. I used to get my "helmet" cut and have a shave on the day of a test match and that worked for a while until we lost. Actually to tell the truth, I still like to have a shave and a haircut before a game -- just because it makes me feel good.

Any regrets?

Yeah. I wished I had kept a diary of my tours. It is such a great experience to have the opportunity to travel to different countries and experience different cultures and people. I always made a point of getting out of the hotel on tours and sightseeing and spending time with the people.

Any particular place that stands out?

I guess I have a soft spot for Ireland. The people are really friendly and have a very passionate attitude to life. I suppose also the fact that we were based in Ireland both times we won the World Cup has something to do with it.

Before I knew it time was up although I did tentitively ask a few probing questions about Japanese girls, drinking and partying among others in an attempt to get some juicy bits to spice up the interview, however it seems that the man has got his head. . . ah "helmet" . . . firmly screwed on his broad shoulders. It's hard to disagree with the nickname "helmet" when you look at the guy, but looking back on his attitude and career, "superman" would not be too far off the mark.