Luke Fitzgerald Recalls Hilarious Drunken British & Irish Lions Teammate Story

“There was a pizza on the ceiling!”

Former Ireland and Leinster star Luke Fitzgerald has recalled a brilliant Lions story from the 2009 tour of South Africa, involving former Wales back-row Andy Powell and a wayward pizza.

Powell, who was famously arrested a year after the tour while on Wales duty, for stealing a golf buggy and driving it towards a motorway, is a bit of a character to say the least.

With Fitzgerald in bed ahead of the final midweek game against an Emerging Springboks side before the second test, his roommate Powell had decided to go on on the batter, knowing he was out contention for Test selection.

The game was of particular importance to Fitzgerald, as he was close to being picked for the second Test. But he got a bit of a rude awakening from Powell midway through the night.

Speaking on The Left Wing, Independent.ie’s rugby podcast, Fitzgerald described the hilarious scene of events.

“I actually stayed in touch with Powelly [Andy Powell] afterwards and he is such a nice bloke,” Fitzgerald says

“Great fun. He was the life and soul of the party. He was a great part of the tour even though he didn’t play in the tests.

“I had a big match ahead of the tests and I get woken up at about 4am. He knew he was out of the running. Lights go on, I ask him to turn off the lights because I was trying to sleep.

“In the morning I look up and there was a pizza on the ceiling. There was a pizza on the ceiling! I turn over and this was a period where some of the Welsh guys had been doing the fake tan stuff. This guy is huge, he is an unbelievable athlete. I turn over and there was his big, bare orange arse!

“I see the pizza and the big arse and I go into the toilet to brush my teeth. I take a step out of bed and I crunch down on crisps. They led all the way from the toilet to the side of my bed.”

“He is one of those guys who you couldn’t be mad at but I just said ‘listen Powelly, I’m going to ask if I can move, we are on different schedules’.”

Luckily for Fitzgerald it didn’t affect him too much, as he went on to start for the Lions in the second Test against the Springboks.

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