British & Irish Lions scrum-half Mike Phillips admits he enjoys the quiet life despite performing in front of thousands of fans each week.
The 32-year-old played a pivotal role in the Lions’ 2013 tour to Australia, starting two Tests against the Wallabies including the decisive third clash at the ANZ Stadium.
The pressure of that 41-16 triumph in Sydney, played in front of 83,702 spectators, would test even the most self-assured of stars and Phillips revealed he sometimes has to dig deep to portray a positive outlook.
And the Wales international insists he doesn’t purposefully seek any attention away from the field.
“If you ask people who have known me all of my life, I’m quite quiet and I can go for days without speaking to anyone,” he told BBC Sport Wales. “I’m quite happy to be on my own and chilling out.
“When you play rugby and there are 70,000 people watching you and you are playing against big teams, if you don’t believe in yourself you are going to get hurt and be embarrassed.
“For that 80 minutes you have to become fully confident in yourself and the team around you and I think I’ve been able to do that more often than not.”
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