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13th April 2022
12:33pm BST

Ireland players, from left, Tony Buckley, Geordan Murphy, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip walk from the aircraft in front of the Remarkable Mountains on the team's arrival in Queenstown Airport, in 2011. (Credit: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE)[/caption]
"We were in this bar. We went out on the piss, the first night we got there. The second day, a few of us went for another few beers. "So we had three days of just chilling out, doing activities, and stuff. So, we were in this bar [Lone Star] and I met this Canadian girl, and these two Americans. There were a few of us chatting away, and whatever. Then we headed off, later that night. "I had been chatting away to one them for a while and, I don't really remember the end of it but we all headed back to the hotel, anyway. But the next day, I got this message on my phone - 'Hey. It was good to meet you last night. Must catch up with you during the week for some dinner'." "'Perfect,' I replied. 'It was lovely to meet you too'." "But I couldn't remember exactly which one it was! I didn't remember exchanging numbers."O'Brien then got stuck into the real World Cup prep in Queenstown, as Ireland prepared for their opening game against the USA. A couple of days later, his phone pinged again... [caption id="attachment_256631" align="alignnone" width="800"]
The Ireland back row of Sean O'Brien, Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip after a win over Italy at Otago Stadium, Dunedin. (Credit: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE)[/caption]
"I'd nothing lose," he says. "I was a young fella! I was getting a bit giddy! "So I got on my Sunday best clothes, after-shave all over me. "At this stage, there were a couple more messages coming through, like, 'Can't wait to see you', 'Very excited'. I was thinking this was a bit strange. First time proper meeting someone. "Rather than walking down the main street to where Lone Star was, I went up the back way and down around the back entrance. Well, just as I got there I heard this bit of a commotion at the back of a bus. I stepped to one side of the footpath, and about 25 of the squad were there, ready to jump out! "I went, 'Ah, I'm done here!' So I went walking down towards them and they jumped out and started giving it loads! I just went red. And back to the hotel with me, with my tail between my legs. There was no woman, no dinner and no-one I had given my number to!"Mike Ross, O'Brien's Leinster and Ireland teammate, was singled out as "the instigator" of the whole ruse. Asked by Alex Goode if it was true that pictures may have been exchanged as part of the message thread, a laughing O'Brien strongly denied it. "I didn't send any pictures, anyway!" So, while the England rugby squad were engaged in some dwarf-throwing contests in Queenstown, around the same time, the Ireland lads were focused on getting their kicks out of a young, giddy O'Brien.
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