"It was so stupid!" – England legend Anthony Watson shares hilarious try celebration mistake story from 2017 Lions Tour
04/17/2025 09:49 AM
Former England wing Anthony Watson had a celebration nightmare to forget, when he scored his first try of the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour. Watson scored the opening try of the Lions’ trip to New Zealand, as he dotted down after 53 minutes against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians,in the narrow 13-7 win at Okara Park, Whagarei.
It was Watson’s post-try posing that he’s since re-visited, in a hilarious story shared on the ‘For the Love of Rugby’ podcast. Watson expressed to former British & Irish Lions and podcast co-hosts Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, how a friend of his asked him to do a double ‘ok’ hand-sign if he scored out in the land of the All Blacks. Little did Watson know, that the slightly slanted variation of the hand gesture has vastly different connotations in a certain suburb of London.
You can watch Watson share the hilarious story in the clip below, with some priceless reactions from his former England and Leicester Tigers teammates.
“I remember doing something that I regret to this day, it was so stupid.” Watson began, as he re-told the tale of his try upon New Zealand’s North Island.
“One of my mates from back home asked me to do a celebration if I scored. So I’ve thrown up these two things (hand signs) like this, this is what he’s asked me to do… bro, it’s a gang in London!”
“There I am mate. I promise you, first game for the Lions, first try… throwing up gang signs!”
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