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25th April 2025
03:56pm BST
On the latest episode of the Offload podcast, with former Ireland players Tommy Bowe and Donncha O'Callaghan, the latter recounted an embarrassing tale involving one of the greatest players of all time.
The topic of idols came up, with Bowe singling out ex-All Black winger Christian Cullen as a player he looked up to, while O'Callaghan waxed lyrical about former England and Lions captain, Martin Johnson.
Johnson also captained the Welford Road-based Leicester Tigers, and in one of their clashes with Munster, O'Callaghan had a moment with him that he would rather forger.
The former Munster lock said: "You nearly feel bad as an Irish person saying it.
"That Lions tour in '97, Martin Johnson was up on a pedestal for me. He honestly became like, that's how I wanted to play rugby.
"I loved everything he was about, I liked the way he went about his business too, and he was gnarly.
"I got to play against him in Welford Road, and I'll never forget it.
"They had us under the pump at one point, and they'd just kicked the corner, that old-school Leicester pack.
"And I remember we needed a few minutes, and I actually scooped off my boot, and the ref was there like 'we'll hold up for him'.
"Martin Johnson went 'forget about him, he did that on purpose, drive on', and the ref said 'it's for his boot, we have to stop for two minutes.'
"I'll never forget it, he stood over me, and it was like Hagrid from Harry Potter, there was no light from anywhere else.
"I looked up and there's this icon, and I remember he just went 'hurry up'.
"And lads slagged me about it because I went 'I'm very sorry Mr. Johnson'. I tucked in my lace and sprinted back to the line out."
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