RTE viewers hailed Brent Pope as a 'warrior' after he appeared on Saturday's Tommy Tiernan Show.
Pope shot to fame across the nation as he became an RTE regular in Six Nations coverage alongside George Hook and Tom McGurk.
And Pope spoke candidly on Tommy Tiernan as he spoke about his mental health struggles.
Pope said: "I've had difficulties and I've been open about them.
"I've had difficulties with mental health and I've had major panic attacks and anxiety attacks from an early age and I hid it.
"Sadly I couldn't get help in those days. If I went to team doctors or whatever they'd just look at me
"I buckled and it was just too much pressure and there were too many things going on in my life.
"I remember ringing my father from a pay phone one night in tears saying 'Dad, come and get me I can't play rugby anymore, I can't go on like this. I can't continue to live a lie that I'm okay because I'm not okay'.
"And that was the start for reaching out for help and thank god I think because I made a call to the Samaritans one night when I was particularly low because it's emotional for me now still to go back to those days. They saved my life.
"I'll always remember, even until this day, this wonderful voice at the end of the line saying 'what's wrong friend'.
"I don't know what it was with the word friend that resonated with me, here's someone that doesn't know me and is prepared to be my friend. I just wanted to be hugged and told it was going to be okay."
And social media users praised Pope after his appearance with one user saying: "Great life lessons from Brent Pope, RE rugby being a tough man’s game, ‘real men do cry, real men do show their emotions’ ending with ‘thank you for being kind and thank you for being vulnerable with me’ topped it off"
While another added: "What a powerful interview with Brent Pope on the #TommyTiernanShow Brent was vulnerable and brave and Tommy talked to him with such compassion. Beautiful to watch."
And another said: "Brent Pope on #TommyTiernanShow a successful sportsman opening up about #mentalhealth a strong/warrior/hero, it’s in all of us"
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
