Donncha O’Callaghan on why he’s embracing the ‘dad bod’ after 20 years as an athlete

The former rugby star is now better known as a radio and TV presenter after retiring from the game in 2018.

And the father-of-four says he’s loving his more laidback diet and exercise regime after 20 years as an elite athlete.

“It’s not sustainable,” Donncha reflects on his sporting prime. “I’m gone the other way totally with that — I’m fully embracing it.

“Within professional circles, it’s very easy to be on top of things — your nutrition is looked after, all your physio and deep tissue massage.

“It isn’t until you come away that you get an appreciation for how difficult it is.

“From rugby, it’s mad, you don’t see, like, a chicken breast — that’s 40 grams of protein. You see two scoops of rice or pasta as 50 grams of carbohydrates.

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“[You’re] looking at the nutrients as opposed to, ‘Oh my God, that tastes amazing!’

“To be fair, it’s quite enjoyable, because there’s no accountability, there’s no DEXA scans, there’s no millimetres and skin folds of fat, so you can be a bit looser,” he continues.

“I look at some of my teammates and they’re in better condition now than when they were playing.

“What a waste that was … like, when we needed you to be in incredible shape, you weren’t!”

Munster legend Donncha shares four children with engineer wife, Jenny Harte: Sophie (14), Anna (12), Robin (11) and Jake (9).

So he’s thrown his towering 6ft 6ins support behind Tesco Ireland’s new Stronger Starts Cooks initiative, a free six-week programme aimed at supporting children’s health and wellbeing, which is set to be delivered to almost 3,000 pupils across 42 primary schools this year.

“Looking at this research, 92 per cent of parents felt they’d love more cooking within the curriculum,” he quotes a survey conducted by the store, “and we feel the same.

“It isn’t until you go into secondary [school] that you start to pick up Home Economics, if you’re into it.

“Other than that, there isn’t a whole lot of knowledge about it. So I think it’s a good thing if you can do it, and family-wise, get around.

“The big one we do is, if we’re doing a roast on a Sunday, everyone gets involved with different things. So Robin, my little girl, makes the best stuffing in the world, and Anna is a dinger at mashed potato. But then, honestly, it’s like something you’d see with Gordon Ramsay — if the mash isn’t good, everyone’s telling her!”

The popular host is now also home for breakfast after leaving RTÉ 2FM after five years on the air last year.

And the 46-year-old, who quit just weeks after co-host Doireann Garrihy, maintains it was the right call.

“I don’t miss the early hours, it was really cruel,” says Donncha, who was also flanked by Carl Mullan on the Breakfast Show. “If I was in Dublin, I was up at three.

“But I do miss that team, and obviously Doireann and Carl I love to bits, so I do miss hanging around with them.

“I actually do miss presenting a little bit as well, I didn’t think I would… but I think it’s something you have to enjoy doing.

“With breakfast radio, you can’t bullsh*t it — you have to be a morning person.”

On TV, Donncha also joined the Ireland’s Fittest Family line-up as a coach back in 2017.

But the Cork native reveals how he’d secretly love to take part in another reality TV hit as a competitor.

“We love The [Great British] Bake Off, genuinely,” tells the star, who watched Tommy Tiernan’s turn on the recent Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer on Channel 4. “Like, we’re addicted to it.

“I’d certainly love to give something like that [a go]. But, then again, I can’t cope when it goes wrong.

“The kids all love baking, and they’re good.

“I wish I was better at sticking with the process, but I’ll always come up with some way of [taking shortcuts] — if the cake’s ready in 20 minutes at 180C, if I crank it up to 200C, it’ll be done in ten.”

Although he still weight trains, as much for mind as body, the Ireland rugby great laughs that he hasn’t succumbed to the Hyrox craze: “I slag a few of my friends that do it.

“If I could still do stuff like that, I’d be playing. But I do an awful lot of what I like doing.

“I train with a few buddies of mine — I’m actually training with [former Ireland rugby international] Tomás O’Leary at the moment.

“One thing I learned is I don’t need to go to the well all the time.

“Whereas rugby, you finish empty — no matter what you do, you max out.

“It happened me on holidays, I was lifting weights, and I tried to go after a few weights that I hit on before and threw out my back, and I was no good for a week on the water slides.

“Like, who gives a s**t that you’re PB-ing at 46?”

• To find out more about Tesco Stronger Starts Cooks programme, visit tescoireland.ie/strongerstartscooks