Three former Australian international rugby players have claimed they were involved in a physical altercation with teenagers in Cardiff. Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau, who are part of the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast, had ventured into the heart of the Welsh capital for a night out before the Test match between Wales and the Wallabies.
They found themselves at Boom Battle Bar in the Brewery Quarter on Saturday night, before deciding to grab a bite to eat, which is when things took a turn for the worse, they say. Recounting the incident on the For The Love Of Rugby podcast, hosted by England’s Ben Youngs, Mitchell appeared somewhat shaken by the turn of events.
“It was a tough train trip this morning from Cardiff,” he began. Youngs then asked: “Did something happen in Nando’s when you first arrived?”, to which they all responded: “Oh yeah.”
Mitchell explained: “So, Saturday night we watched England v South Africa. We just thought we’ll go for a cheeky Nando’s before the New Zealand v France game.
“I was lining up and the restaurant was completely packed. This bloke just came over the side and said, ‘where’s the f*****g medium sauce?’ I was like, ‘mate, you alright? There’s a line here’. And he goes, ‘what? F*** off, mate. Where’s the medium sauce?’
“I said, ‘No, mate. F*** off’. Then it kicked off a little bit. You know one of those little chavs getting all big. He was a pretty small looking dude. I’m looking at him, and then I get clocked from the side by his little mate. And then he started to really kick off.”
“He got you clean,” Ashley-Cooper added. “I said, ‘how old are you?’ He goes, ‘I’m 16!’ [flexes arms].”
Mitchell went on: “All the security from the bar we were in – Boom Battle Bar – came in. There were like six security guards. They kicked these three blokes out, and they were like, ‘do you want us to go to the cops?’ I was like, ‘mate, it’s fine. Just make sure they’re not outside just waiting to shank us when we walk out’.”
Giteau chipped in: “You did very well. I was like, ‘Drew, we don’t need this’. We just got here, you know what I mean? In the papers that he’s ended up flogging a 16-year-old.”
Ashley-Cooper said: “And it’s a family restaurant!” Youngs then joked: “I love how he was scared of a 16-year-old waiting for him outside.”
Mitchell said: “He was one of those little ones that would just come up and go [pretends to stab]. Here we go, mate. First day on tour, what a way to go. I’ve never actually been in a fight or thrown a punch.”
Giteau then quipped: “You still haven’t!” Mitchell then recounted: “You know what. I put a little thing on my socials last week saying how I’m blind in my right eye, so he knew I had no peripheral and I f*****g didn’t see it coming. Bang!”
However, the trio were buoyed by their country’s 55-20 victory over Wales, who crashed to a 11th successful defeat, heaping more pressure on head coach Warren Gatland. It doesn’t get any easy for the Welsh, who host world champions South Africa on Saturday. Meanwhile, Australia face Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.
