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Published 17:27 28 Dec 2022 GMT
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Jonathan Sexton, left, Robert Baloucoune and Jimmy O'Brien of Ireland after the Bank of Ireland Nations Series match against South Africa at the Aviva Stadium. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"Thankfully, after the South Africa game, Cian Healy gave me his jersey to swap. And I swapped with Willie le Roux. He was No.23 for South Africa. "So I got to keep my two first cap jerseys. Against Fiji, I didn't get to swap as I came off with 30 minutes to play, after getting a migraine and blurred vision... I came off, got a taxi and went back to bed. "Against Australia, I swapped with the winger I was up against, Mark Nawaqanitawase. He's unbelievable in the air. He's huge. It was pretty cool getting those two jerseys."Nawaqanitawase is taking his first steps in Test rugby but the Willie le Roux jersey swap is the enviable one. The Springboks star has been one of the best fullbacks in world rugby, over the past decade, and was pivotal in his country's World Cup and Lions Test Series triumphs. In recent years, each Ireland player gets a match jersey and another jersey that they can swap with opposition players (at their choosing) after a game. Rather than let O'Brien give away one of the two treasured jerseys from his first cap game, Cian Healy offered up his No.17 that was then traded for Le Roux' jersey. Back in 2017, Keith Earls made a similar gesture to Jacob Stockdale after his try-scoring debut against the USA. The Ulster winger told us:
"Keith Earls was pretty brilliant in that respect. After the game, I was going to go swap my extra jersey with one of the USA players. As I was walking out of the changing rooms, Earlsy just said, 'Here Jacob, don't be swapping your first'. "He gave me his other jersey, and let me swap it, and I was able to hang on to my two first cap jerseys, which was really, really dead on of him. I really appreciated it."Earls and Healy, two lads that have 219 Test caps between them and still remember what it was like to be young, green and making your Test debut. Related articles.
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