Pat Kenny soaked in beer, Ronan O’Gara murdering a classic, Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell in fits laughing – they’re all included in the best off-the-field rugby videos of the year.
5. Sean O’Brien dances with strangers
If his exploits with Jimmy Bullard in Ibiza hadn’t been taken down from YouTube, we could be showing Sean O’Brien in a very different light, but shortly after Ireland’s defeat to Wales in Wellington he showed that he has a softer side to complement his barnstorming, take-no prisoners approach on the field.
Kindly succumbing to the advances of a girl who won’t take no for an answer, the Tullow Tank gently and rather impressively acts as her dancing partner before lifting her up and swinging her by the ankles to the delight of all present.
Sure it was all fun and games for a while, but rumours abound that after the filming stopped, Sean flung the mystery woman high into the New Zealand sky and she was last seen orbiting one of the moons around Jupiter.
4. Pat Kenny gets soaked in beer by Leinster players
The Frontline host found himself in the company of the Leinster players at the airport following their Heineken Cup win and with the lads still in flying form after a phenomenal comeback win over Northampton, it was never going to be a simple case of exchanging simple pleasantries with one of the most overpaid men on television.
Some players threw beer over Pat, others simply chucked their cans of Heino directly at him, but for one brief moment while they all chanted his name, Pat was one of the goys.
3. Leinster’s Brendan Macken does pitch-perfect Ryle Nugent impersonation
If the Aprés Match crew are ever short of a Ryle Nugent impersonator, they know where to look. We have never heard anyone do such a convincing Ryle Nugent impression as Brendan Macken did while Leinster were flying back from Treviso, hell this was even better than if Ryle had said the words himself.
It was all made better by the fact that Nugent was actually on the plane and apparently took it all in good heart. Given that Macken and Nugent share the same alma mater, maybe the quality of the impression shouldn’t come as a surprise, but that would ignore the difficulty of mimicking his unique and dulcet tones.
2. Ronan O’Gara sings along to Queen
After some of the things he’s accomplished so far this season and in his illustrious career to date, Ronan O’Gara can do little wrong in our eyes, but it’s hard to shed a positive light on him murdering Queen’s ‘I Want to Break Free’ for a TomTom Sat Nav ad earlier this year, even if it was all in good fun.
Brutally honest as he always is, ROG probably would have been a bit hard on himself after reviewing the video evidence and will have come to the conclusion that a singing career doesn’t await him when he hangs up his boots.
1. Paul O’Connell and Brian O’Driscoll mock premature England Grand Slam video
In terms of PR, it really has been an annus horribilis for the English rugby team. Such has been the fallout from the World Cup that one would tend to forget the ill-advised and ridiculously premature video leaked earlier this year hailing Martin Johnson’s boys as Grand Slam Champions before they had even played Ireland. We all know what happened next.
As entertaining as it was to laugh at the original footage, it was even better when it was spliced alongside clips of Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell in fits of laughter. Nearly nine months on, we’re still laughing.
