Matthew Ridge

And I can remember like we were playing for the Kiwis and we'd come back and it was 90, I think it was 95 or 96.

It's when we beat Aussie, I can't remember.

But, yeah, he just lost his shit one day when we were out on the piss and fucking decided he was going to give me a biff.

And I was the captain, you know, because I was niggling away at him a little bit, you know.

Was it that little Aussie influence?

Yeah, I was just niggling away at him a bit.

I said, oh, Gerard, you know what you should have done?

You should have gone and spoke to both sides.

You know, you just signed up with one mob when there's two.

Oh, this is during the Super League.

Yeah, I said there's two mobs.

You should have gone and spoken to both sides.

You know, like, you should have done that and he lost his shit, right?

I didn't think he'd lose his shit like that.

Yeah, and he bitch slapped me.

Yeah, it's kind of funny you say that, because I never had a manager or anything like that.

And I can remember, because after the All Black tour, I went and played in Italy, which was amazing.

I went to this place called Piacenza, and I just fell in love with the place.

And the people were so nice.

And the owners, the people that are looking after me, were so nice.