‘It wasn’t funny the first time’
Daniel Jarvis (a.k.a ‘Jarvo 69’) may think twice about invading a rugby pitch again. Brian O’Driscoll certainly hopes so, and he is not the only one.
After making multiple pitch invasions during England cricket games, last summer, Jarvis switched to rugby in time for the Autumn Nations Cup.
He showed up at the Principality Stadium, last October, and dressed up in his All Blacks kit to join the New Zealand team during their national anthem, before being escorted away.
A week later, he was in Dublin and dressed as a Japanese player and trying to get in on their anthem before a game with Ireland. Again, he was escorted off with as little fuss as possible.
On Saturday, at Twickenham, one security guard was not playing around.
As ‘Jarvo 69’ stood in line beside the England players, after invading the pitch, the security guard darted out and absolutely creased him.
Plenty of good moments in the #GuinnessSixNations but pitch invader ‘Jarvo 69’ getting flattened by Twickenham security guard is undoubtedly the highlight of the weekend.pic.twitter.com/1s2dRSmKme
— Jamie Phillips (@JNPhillips4) March 13, 2022
Brian O’Driscoll and many more unimpressed
The tackle brought a mix of cheers and guffaws from the fans in attendance, and Jarvis was marched quick-step from the pitch as ‘God Save The Queen’ played out. England would go on to lose 32-15 to Ireland in the Six Nations encounter.
On the latest episode of House of Rugby URC, Connacht flanker Conor Oliver agreed with hosts Greg O’Shea and Jason Hennessy that the joke has long past its’ sell-by-date.
“They should have let the players sort him out!” joked Oliver.
Brian O’Driscoll, the former Ireland captain, was at Twickenham on punditry duty for ITV. The broadcaster only showed the briefest of glimpses of the security guard tackle Jarvis. They deigned not to show any footage of the pitch invasion itself. Commenting on the video today, O’Driscoll wrote:
‘This helmet had it coming. It wasn’t funny the first time. A couple of days in the clink would soften his cough.’
This helmet had it coming. It wasn’t funny the first time. A couple of days in the clink would soften his cough. https://t.co/lyUjerdSKD
— Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) March 13, 2022
The BBC’s Sunday evening round-up showed slightly more of the incident, and viewers would see Tom Curry, the England flanker, barely flinching as his fake teammate received that rib-rattling tackle.
“See you never, mate,” remarked BBC host Ugo Monye. “See you never!”
