A respectful London Irish audience waits in silence and, a moment later, applaud his success. They later gave Wilkinson a standing ovation when he left the field just before full time.

But he is human. As demonstrated by the video clip below when he surprisingly spills the ball on the line to forfeit a seemingly certain try.

He is a very ‘human’ decent character. Many years ago Johnny Wilkinson visited Galway when playing for Newcastle and was inevitably surrounded by a mass of kids seeking his autograph after the game. After ten minutes of signing, there were still a mass of kids desperate for his autograph. However, Wilkinson was asked to get on the team bus. He refused and insisted on staying behind to sign the all the autographs required. The bus left without him. He was later driven to the airport by local fans, just in time for his flight. A true gentleman and a wonderful player.

Finally something surreal happened during the game – a large leprechaun cast a musical spell. Everybody’s got a story!

score more points than the Springboks over the three test matches – sorry Springbok fans – I can’t resist the stats. Fantastic series and congrats to the Springboks on winning it overall. In fact, it was great to see the Lions applauding the fantastic Springbok captain John Smit as he  lifted the trophy.  The end of a great tour and very fond memories of a great sporting nation, South Africa (I’ve got to come back for the World Cup if  Ireland qualify!).

I caught the Emerging Springboks game in Capetown and witnessed one of the finest conversions ever kicked in the dying moments to give the youngish Springboks a draw. Then I witnessed another killer kick in the Second Test in Pretoria – again the last kick of the game to give the Springboks the series.  The Lions played magnificently but didn’t get the result. However what thrilled me were the Springbok fans who applauded every Lions try, and converted kicks. I am constantly amazed at the generosity of their hospitality – they can’t do enough for us. A great country – I’m coming back (if Ireland qualify for the  World Cup 2010)!

Liverpool have this tradition too. So too do Munster rugby & Queens Park Rangers FC (see story in the book). Now I’m delighted to add the mighty Real Madrid to this growing ‘club’ of sportsmanship.

To listen to the BBC 5 live Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

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I was delighted to hear that he used to ask the Nottingham Forest fans to resist using foul language by showing them his handwritten sign. Any fans out there can tell me what words he wrote on the sign?

To listen to the BBC Nottingham Radio interview click on the play button (arrow button) below:

Or if you prefer click the link below to download the mp3 file:

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It was, in fact, more than a moment, it was several minutes. When the new Irish anthem was sung, I heard Welsh people sing it with great gusto. When I looked around me, I saw every man, woman and child (all dressed in red shirts) singing the Irish song along with the Irish. It felt fantastic. And then came the Welsh National Anthem, The Land Of My Fathers. I’ve been in both the new Millennium Stadium and the Old Cardiff Arms Park and heard the Welsh sing their song with great pride many times before. This time, however, it seemed louder and even more passionate – if that’s possible.

The Welsh wanted a big win to secure the 6 Nations Championship (and a Triple Crown by beating England, Scotland and Ireland). The Irish were attempting to win three titles: The Triple Crown , the 6 Nations Championship (having already beaten France & Italy) and an illusive Grand Slam (beating everyone). Illusive because we’ve only done it once, way back in 1948.

Ireland won 17-15 by a last minute drop goal from Ronan O’Gara in what was a fantastic game of rugby. Afterwards  I was really taken by the hundreds of Welsh fans that came over and congratulated us. I love the Welsh, their passion, their singing, their stadium, their city, their rugby and most of all, their sportsmanship.

They play all their games away from home. They wear old beaten up gear, lose consistently and never ever get cheered on.

Suddenly, Gainsville Tornadoes had hundreds of fans and cheerleaders and the fans cheered them on by name. The fans even knew their names. The Gainsville guys were stunned, amazed and absolutely delighted. “We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games,” says Gerald, a lineman  whose doing three years. “You can see it in their eyes. They’re lookin’ at us like we’re criminals. But these people, they were yellin’ for us! By our names!”  Another Gainsville player, Isaah, said I never would’ve known there was so many people in the world that cared about us.”

And though they lost 33-14, the Gainesville guys were so happy that after the game they showered their head coach Mark Williams with their squirt bottles as if they were celebrating winning a championship.  As the Gainsville boys were marched back onto their bus the Gainsville coach saw Hogan, grabbed  him and told him ‘you’ll never ever know what your people did for these kids tonight.’

Editor’s note: Thanks to Ellen Nolan for alerting me to this story.

This is an excerpt from an extraordinarily well written piece by a Kiwi, Martin Moodie, whose article captures the greatness of sportsmanship as demonstrated by the Munster fans. As the late, great Jack O’Donnell from St. Louis Missouri used to say “read this and cry”.