'A free bar - and chip butties for everyone!'

Ex-footballer Roddy Collins has hilariously recounted how he became friends for life with Shaun Edwards after he mistook the current France rugby assistant coach for a boxer back in 1997. The Irishman, who went on to manage Bohemians to a League of Ireland/FAI Cup double three years later, spoke about his strong rapport with the Wigan rugby league legend in The Rodfather, the auto-biography written in conjunction with Paul Howard, the creator of the fictional Ross O’Carroll-Kelly Dublin private schools rugby character.

An older brother of Steve, the former world champion boxer who defeated the likes of Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn during his famed ring career, Roddy recalled in his newly published book how he used to run promotional events in and around his sibling’s title defences.

It was at one such after-fight party that Collins erroneously thought Edwards was a boxer, but his quick apology marked the beginning of a friendship that continues to this day 25 years later. Explaining what took place in Glasgow following his brother’s victory over Craig Cummings, Collins regaled: “I was checking passes at the door along with my bouncer, Decky Weldon.

“I let Jason McAteer and Phil Babb in, Bonehead from Oasis and his crew, then Martin Offiah, who was with a man I thought was the welterweight boxer Steve ‘The Viking’ Foster. ‘In you go Martin’, I said. ‘Have a good night, Steve’. The man looked at me strangely. Decky laughed. ‘Who did you think that was?’ he asked. ‘Was it not Steve ‘The Viking’ Foster,’ I said. ‘No, it was Shaun Edwards - the rugby league player’.

“I felt like a right dope. I used to watch matches on TV on a Sunday afternoon when he was a star for Wigan and I thought he was brilliant. I went over to apologise. ‘OK, pal,’ he said. We got talking. It’s happened to me only a handful of times that I’ve met someone and within five minutes felt like I’ve known them all my life, and this was one of them.”

Collins went on to describe how the friendship quickly developed back in Ireland, initially providing an insight into Edwards’ staunch religious faith. “A few weeks later Shaun rang me to say he was coming to Dublin with a few mates. I had a great night out with them. Shaun loved a pint and a sing-song. But there was real substance to him as well.

"He wanted to become a coach when he finished playing and he was interested in learning anything he could from other sports. I also admired him for his faith. He was a practising Catholic and he took it very seriously. It was five o’clock in the morning when our night out ended and he was at Mass in the Liberties at nine o’clock.

“We became great mates. Caroline [Collins’ wife] and I started going to England a few times a year to watch him play for the London Broncos and we had some great nights out with him and his partner, Heather Small from M People.”

The reference to Edwards in The Rodfather didn’t end with that night out in Dublin as Collins soon described another visit from his new pal the following year which gave clues into the beginnings of a now-famed coaching career where the league-playing legend became a union defence coach colossus with Wasps, Wales, the Lions and France.

“Shaun Edwards came over to Dublin to stay with us. He was coming to the end of his rugby career and he was planning to move into coaching. He arrived with a stack of books about football, boxing, rugby, and all sorts of other sports, which he studied for hours in our spare room while drinking endless amounts of tea from a soup mug.

“He used to demonstrate tactical ideas sitting at the table using the salt and pepper shakers and whatever else was to hand. ‘Doesn’t matter what sport you’re on about,’ he said to me one day. ‘Defence is the bedrock of every great team. Defence is what wins you leagues’.”

There were two other mentions of Edwards - the 2022 France Grand Slam-winning assistant - in the book, the first recalling how he flew in to help Bohemian FC ahead of their 2000 FAI Cup final win over Longford. The second mention came in the acknowledgements section at the end of the book.

“Thanks to Shaun Edwards and Mags,” penned Collins. “It’s been a privilege to have you as a friend, Shaun, through good times and bad. You’ve thrown some of the best parties I’ve ever been to: ‘A free bar - and chip butties for everyone!’”