Rob Kearney admits to have endured a frustrating final season at Leinster as he prepares for a new challenge in Australia.
Kearney has agreed a deal to join the Western Force on a six-month basis, after a hugely successful 15-year career with Leinster.
The 34-year-old made the last of his 219 Leinster appearances in the Guinness Pro14 final victory over Ulster at the Aviva Stadium in August.
However he admitted that injury-hit final season with the province was a disappointing way to end his time in blue and that he regretted not being able to have a proper farewell.
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
"To be honest this last season has been very unfulfilling for me," he said on 2fm's Game On. "I think I played four games in the last year, I didn’t get to sign off in any way I would have liked to.
"The body still feels good and the mind still feels good.
"The opportunity was just too good to turn down. It’s only a six-month contract, but it’s another means to try and test myself.
"Maybe I’m being a little bit brave to test myself in a new environment as 34 years of age, but I’m a big believer in 'don’t die wondering’ and what’s the worst thing that can happen?"
While Kearney is looking forward to testing himself with a new challenge Down Under, he admits that thoughts of what will come after rugby are never far from his mind.
"I think about it every single day but I don’t have too big a list of answers to come up with for the questions I have," he said.
"I wonder am I ever going to find something as passionate, that I’ll be really keen to do after rugby. But at the same time I’ve managed to do my degree, I’ve done my MBA and I’m involved in a few businesses.
"I’ll trial and error a few things and try to understand and get a feel of the things that excite me but I’m not going to rush into it.
"I think a mistake a lot of players make is that they rush into a job that isn’t suited to them, so I’ll take my time and try and do lots of different things."
Follow Ireland v Italy (3.30pm Saturday) with our live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
Follow Ireland v Italy in the Women's Six Nations (6.30pm) live on RTÉ2 and on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra.
