Gordon D'Arcy is second on the record list for most Leinster appearances at 257 and third on the all-time Leinster try list with 60. He also earned 82 caps for Ireland.
Leinster Rugby is gearing up for their first game in their newly refurbished home grounds in the RDS, the Laya Arena, where they play Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship.
The Pat Kenny Show broadcast live from the venue and was joined by one of the team's most well-known players, Gordon D'Arcy.
D'Arcy made 257 appearances for Leinster (the second-most appearances) and joked with Pat Kenny on his and Brian O'Driscoll's old hairstyles during their tenure with the team.
During their chat, the 46-year-old shared how he wasn't amazing at rugby when he first started playing, but he decided to give it his all, and even decided not to go to college in order to pursue the sport as a career, to his parents' dismay.
He shared: "It was a big decision, and, you know, when you think about in the late 90s, it wasn't the done thing not to go to college.
"You know, to my parents, it was getting an education and third level education is something that they may not have had, so that was the road you went to.
"Also the game had gone professional in 96. so it had only been professional for 18 months when I walked into it. So there were a lot of ifs and buts around this.
"I tried to do both [rugby and college], but I couldn't do it. I remember my dad saying to me, he said, 'Listen, you're not doing either well. You're not doing college and you're definitely not doing rugby well. So you need to make a decision.'
"And that was a hard conversation to have with a 20-year-old. So I chose rugby and I decided to give it everything and properly give it everything.
"Then later in life, when you get a bit of maturity, you realise, OK, maybe I'd like to challenge myself mentally. So I went back to college when I was 28."
Considering he was one of the most recognisable faces from the Ireland and Leinster teams at the time, Mr Kenny wondered what it was like to go into a space with many young people who likely knew who he was and go to class with them.
He explained: "When I went in, I was there for a very specific reason. We would have talked a lot about being humble in how we played rugby and that translates into the other aspects of your life.
"I met lots of people in college that I got on really well [with]. One of them is still a friend today and he helped and he helped me quite a lot when I was in college.
"Like when I was 18, I definitely wasn't sitting in the front row, where I was 28. I was there [and] I wanted to get as much as I possibly could from this."
Gordon D'Arcy has certainly developed a lot of different businesses in the wake of his rugby career. Along with writing about the sport, he also has written children's books, launched Form School and Form School Apparel with his wife Aoife Cogan and works with his sister on her business Kids Speech Labs which recently won an innovation award.
Leinster v Cardiff kicks off at 7:45pm on TG4.
Main image: Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll with the Heineken cup trophy in 2012 Pic: Matt Impey / SPORTSFILE
