By Cian O'Connell

A week spent training and playing Gaelic Football with Glenswilly gave former Wales Rugby international Shane Williams a newfound appreciation.

Part of The Toughest Trade programme Williams richly 'enjoyed' the experience in Donegal.  "I loved it, I really enjoyed it," Williams remarks.

"It was the unexpected really. In Wales, we obviously don't have much GAA, but I came over here, did a bit of research before I got over, spoke to the likes of Tommy Bowe and these guys who played it before, and I thought, 'What have I let myself in for?'

"But it was good, I really enjoyed it. The good thing was that it's a bit of rugby in it, there's a bit of soccer in it, a bit of a mix of other sports, and I enjoyed learning. I took to it quite quickly. I'm not saying I was any good, but I knew what I was doing.

"I really enjoyed the experience and the people up in Glenswilly were fantastic, in all honesty, and the players made me feel quite welcome. It was quite bizarre that I was in my late 30s and I'm going somewhere and I'm quite nervous meeting new players and people. It was like the first day in school."

Williams adapted quickly enjoying his forward role for Glenswilly. "As a rugby player, I used to go looking for work.Whether that be at the ruck or just talking to people to get me the ball. When you're up front as a Gaelic footballer, you've got to run away from the ball almost. You've got to look for room - I think so anyway, I might be wrong - look for the space and then get your hands on the ball.

"I used to play a bit of football as a striker. I remember the coach telling me, 'When you lose the ball up front, you've got to run back and help defend.' As soon as I started running back in Gaelic football, the coaches on the sideline were shouting, 'Woah, woah, stay there.' All the players were shouting at me.

"Things like that, it's just a completely different game. I really enjoyed it. I came off the field happy with what had happened on there. It was a good experience."

In his outing for Glenswilly Williams nailed four points, but one of the things that struck him was the demands of the game.

"We had three or four training sessions. From bits of fitness to actually playing the game, which was hard enough anyway. I couldn't get over the amount of running you had to do in training. The pitch is a lot bigger so you are going to cover a lot more ground. That was a little shock to the system. We had an early morning weights session as well. I haven't done anything like that since I finished playing rugby.

"I just couldn't get over the fact that these boys are amateur players and they were getting up at six o'clock to do weights sessions. They went to work and then came back and did a training session in the evening.

"It was good. At the end of the week, certainly, I was physically shattered. I knew I'd trained hard that week - physically and mentally, I suppose. I had so much going through my head. The coaches were taking me in a little room and they had all these little magnets on the board with the pitch.

"They were saying, 'On our ball, I want you to go here and here and then here. I was like, 'Will I just stay up front?' They were like, 'Yeah, you just stay up front. When we get the ball, you just run as fast as you can.

"It was fun. It was good doing something different. I played rugby for 14 years professionally. So to do something like that was refreshing."

AIB is delighted to announce that its documentary series The Toughest Trade will return to RTÉ2 tomorrow (Wednesday 1st March) at 9.30pm. Created by the long-time GAA Club Championship sponsors as part of its #TheToughest campaign, The Toughest Trade explores how professional sports compare to the amateur GAA games.*