While it remains etched forever in the folklore of the British and Irish Lions series, Wallaby teammates in 2013 believe that Kurtley Beal and James O’Connor’s infamous early morning burger busts have been “disproportionately blown away.”
Captured at 3:50am at a fast food outlet between the first and second tests of a previous series in Australia 12 years ago, Beer and O’Connor sent Fleet Street in a frenzy.
The other two in Australian rugby’s so-called “Three Amigos,” Sands Quad Cooper saw the then clubside Melbourne rebels headed for post-match functions before losing to the midweek outfit of the British and Ireland Lions in Melbourne.
Rugby Australia accepted the pair’s explanation that they weren’t drinking and chose not to take disciplinary action four days later that led to the Lions 16-15 victory in which Wallabies rose to the level of the series.
“We were just hungry,” Beal told AAP this week, reflecting on “erroneous judgment.”
“We went there and got some food and then we got back to the hotel, and these guys took pictures and put them on paper.
“We thought we were doing something good, ‘g’day’. These young people were full of alcohol and sent it to paper. And here we are.
“I mean, I see it now, I’m not really looking at it.”
Nor did we have a beer teammate.
“I was the vice captain at the time, but I didn’t think it was a big deal,” Halfback Will Jenia told AAP.
“They had Burger King on Tuesday night, so they took a break on Wednesday.
“The biggest thing was probably they were out late. If they wake up late, they probably would be better off in their room.
“But by the end of the day I thought it had been blown away disproportionately.
“That kind of thing happens. I’m playing any PlayStation or games that are called these days, just like players are in their rooms by 3am.
“But what it shows is the level of scrutiny, and the level of attention that comes with these tours is a different level.
“That’s what I loved about it. That’s what I really enjoyed about it. I love it that it was this massive event.”
Looking back, Beal shruggs the episode as “another embarrassing moment that was probably a bit off the ground.”
“We didn’t know much,” he said.
“We still showed up the next day, shaking, still trained, and worked for our team.
“But understanding how it could have a negative impact on your team and appearance could probably regret it looking back on that decision.
“But I wasn’t going out, when social media started going outside.
“It’s something that makes you just look back and understand the power of social media.
“On the phone, people have cameras everywhere. It’s crazy.”
More than a decade later, Beale remains a more disappointing slip-up for him and Jenia when he had the opportunity to chase Australia for victory in the first Test three days ago.
“The pitch was a bit flooded and I wasn’t wearing any studs that day. I was wearing mold, perhaps the biggest learning curve I’ve taken,” recalls Beer “eye-away” every time a slip footage appears.
He’s not blaming Beale, but Jenia claims that Berwick Burns’ loose kick that allowed George North to score in the 23-21 victory for the Lions ultimately proved the turning point of the series.
“The reason I can say I lost the series is because I should have won the first Test,” Jenia said.
“We won second, but it took us a lot of emotional time from us to win and win. And we were probably a little flat. We couldn’t recover emotionally.”