Me and my kit: Andy Platt

Rugby league prop forward

AT WIGAN, nearly all your gear - your boots, shin-pads and shoulder pads - is taken care of by the kit man. So there isn't much in the bag I take with me; just a carbohydrate drink I have before the match, a bag of toiletries and my gumshield.

I've only used a shield for the last two years. I'd played eight years without it and never lost a tooth, but then we got a new dentist at the club and he suggested I give it a try. I've got used to it and most players wear one now.

My shoulder pads are a combination of a few things. John (Monie, the Wigan coach) brought me some back from Australia, but they restricted my movement a bit. I cut them down, and got some over here, which I also cut down, and put the two halves together. The shinpads I only wear when I'm in the front row, because you never know when you're going to catch a kick.

The first thing you do when you arrive is to get strapped by the physio. I have both ankles strapped, because I've had a few injuries there, and at the moment I have my wrist strapped as well.

I've only ever worn head-gear once, after I'd got a cut on the back of my head, and I always wear swimming trunks rather than a jock strap.

It's all a bit different when you play for Great Britain, because you have to take your playing gear with you. You're then given it all in a kitbag.

Andy Platt will play for Great Britain in the World Cup final against Australia at Wembley next Saturday.

(Photograph omitted)