Can the “tutu” ramblings of Peter de Villiers capture a rampant Honey Badger on the loose?
Nick “The Honey Badger” Cummins’ origin story is 2-0 up in the series aimed at crowning rugby’s funniest interview after besting the furore connecting Rassie Erasmus to the Jaco Johan Twitter saga and Joe Marler’s “slightly Irish horse”.
In 2009, Schalk Burger received an eight-week ban following an eye-gouging incident during the second British & Irish Lions Test in Pretoria, with De Villiers promptly confusing the entire rugby world while defending the flanker’s actions.
“If you know Schalk’s nature and character – if you know the man as I know him – he would never do this,” said De Villiers.
“He is more physical than any other rugby player in the world. But to go to those kind of measures, he would never ever do it. And I don’t think he did it.”
Then, in classic De Villiers fashion, the former Bok coach produced one of the most famous, and obscure, rugby analogies of all time.
“But we must understand here very, very clearly that rugby is a contact sport – and so is dancing.
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“If we are going to win games in boardrooms and in front of television cameras and in shops, we must say to ourselves, ‘Do we really respect this game that we really honour so much?’
“If it’s the case that we are, why don’t we all go to the nearest ballet shop, get some nice tutus and get some great dancing going on? No eye-gouging, no tackling, no nothing. Then enjoy.”
A natural on the mic and effortless comic, Cummins had a ball during interviews. Of all his bizarre anecdotes, metaphors and analogies, the story of a lion going head-to-head with a honey badger and how his nickname came to be, has to be the funniest of the lot.
The winger’s lively on-camera performances opened doors in Australia’s advertising industry, leading to various opportunities. He served as the brand ambassador for Tradies since 2015, appeared in campaigns for Head and Shoulders in 2014, commercials for Iron Jack in 2017, and assumed the role of ambassador for Tourism Australia in 2017 while serving as the host of National Geographic’s Meanwhile In Australia.
Photo: Action Images / Jason O’Brien, Twitter/@WesternForce