Gareth Thomas: ‘F*****g crazy’ pre-match rituals in Dublin
Welsh rugby legend Gareth Thomas has described the pre-match ritual in Dublin before internationals as “very strange”, and said it has a destabilising effect on visiting teams.
Thomas believes Ireland will win Sunday’s Six Nations clash with England and said the build-up to the match could be a factor in the win.
Thomas was writing in his blog on Paddy Power. He said the national anthems were sung with passion, but the fact that President Michael D Higgins then came on the field and met all the players took the momentum away from the visiting players.
Thomas, Wales’ most-capped player, said the Irish team thrived on the drawn-out ritual, but not so the opposition forced to meet what he described as “random dignitaries”.
“You’re stood there thinking, ‘Can we not get on with the f***ing game already?’,” he wrote. “It takes a long time to get to kick-off.”
He summed up the thoughts of the players as they waited for the game to start: “For f***s sake, who else have we got to meet? Are you going to bring your mother and father down next? This is f***ing crazy.”
Any mention of pre-match handshakes in Dublin inevitably leads back to the infamous carpet-gate incident of 2003. Martin Johnson led his England team to the wrong place on the field in Lansdowne Road and refused to move, forcing then President Mary McAleese to walk across the grass to greet them.
England got the win that day and left with the Grand Slam.
Regardless of how the meet-and-greet goes with Michael D Higgins - Ireland are determined that there will be no repeat of that victory on Sunday in the Aviva Stadium.
You can read the full Gareth Thomas article on the Paddy Power blog.
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