The tone of the book is set by the excellent foreword from his former Captain with Tigers and England, Martin Johnson. Johnno recounts thumping Lewis in training and the two of them quickly forgetting it in the changing room afterwards with Johnno concluding that Lewis enjoyed the whole anyway so there were no hard feelings!

The dressing room banter, something all players say they miss when they retire, is alive and well in ‘Year of the Tiger’ with Austin Healey copping his usual amount of grief. Something he seems to suffer from in other rugby books. I wonder why?

Lewis also takes the reader through his domestic life, his obvious love for his fiancée, Annie, and also his IKEA flatpacking skills or lack of them as he tries to put together a wardrobe.

Some season diaries can be a bit mundane but this one is a bit different as the reader genuinely gets an insight into what makes Lewis tick on and off the pitch. At times ‘Year of the Tiger’ is a brutally honest book but it gives the reader a very good idea what its like to be an international rugby player. It’s well worth a read.

‘Year of the Tiger’ is available priced at £16.99, published by Vision Sports Publishing and can be bought from the Leicester Tigers shop, the Rugby Store at Twickenham Stadium (mail order 0870 405 2003 or online ) and high street bookshops.