Skipper Chris Robshaw has revealed a lot of golf has helped him get over his British Lions heartache and has him fired up for action.

The 27-year-old England captain failed to make the cut for the triumphant tour Down Under in the summer, to end a campaign that had been looking so rosey, having led his country to a historic win over the All Blacks last autumn and to the brink of a Six Nations Grand Slam in March.

It went sour as England were thrashed by Wales in Cardiff, Quins were dumped out of the Heineken Cup quarter-finals by Munster and handed a Premiership semi-final humbling at Leicester Tigers, before Lions coach Warren Gatland added his final judgement.

But Robshaw, pictured right, has barely had any down time since being cut adrift of the England training squad for the 2011 World Cup until this summer.

And he says he is ready to welcome the good times back.

“Personally I did not feel jaded, but sometimes you need someone to look at the bigger picture to make that call,” he said.

“That is what [England head coach] Stuart Lancaster and Conor O’Shea did for me. When I found out I wasn’t with the Lions they said take the summer off and come back fresh.

“Of course missing the Lions is a blow, but it is the same as everyone else who did not make the tour.

“As a British player that tour is the pinnacle, but all sportsmen have setbacks and disappointments and you have to move forward.

“It is about relaxing, taking time off from the game for six weeks, playing a lot of golf and that sort of stuff, and then hopefully come back a fresher and a better player. You have to take positives from losses. You try and save them in your memory and don’t let them happen again.

“We got to a quarter-final and semi-final last year and hopefully we can go one better this time.”