“IN THE PHOTO, I have the ball in my hands, which must have happened twice in the six years I played rugby.”

Deep in the annals of the internet, you’ll find a years-old photo of Killian Sundermann sprinting across the pitch at Donnybrook Stadium.

These days, Killian is much better known for his viral TikTok comedy than for his rugby chops, but he can still call up the emotions (mainly terror) of his days as a player:

If you look at the video [of the same match] there’s just panic in my eyes. I’m thinking, ‘how do I get this ball out of my hands? This isn’t what I’m supposed to be doing.’ I think I run, someone comes close to me and I just throw the ball away.

It’s not one of his top ten life memories, he admits: “I very much tried to get those files deleted and erased but they still exist somewhere.”

Killian reflected on his brief but sparkling sporting career on The Front Row, The42′s rugby podcast in partnership with Guinness.

He joined comedian Seán Burke, Irish rugby international Eimear Considine and The42′s own Murray Kinsella for the final episode of the first season, recorded the morning after Ireland’s 29-8 victory over Italy in the Women’s Six Nations.

Happier on the sidelines

Killian’s still a rugby fan, but a final attempt to get back to playing a few years ago made him realise it was time to hang up his own boots for good.

Some of my friends were missing a prop and asked me to come along [for a match]. I did the training beforehand with the bags and everyone was so big… There were five minutes to go in the game and the coach was like, ‘Do you want to go on?’ and I said, ‘Do you know what? I’m actually good. I’ll just watch! I’m a spectator today.’ And I never went back…

As for his main priority during a game, he recalls it being less about winning and more about avoiding the spotlight: “My ethos when I was about to go on the pitch was, ‘Let’s see if I can spend the entire game not getting the ball.’”

Not an ethos the Irish team should try to adopt for the remaining games of the Women’s Six Nations, then…

That caps off the first season of The Front Row in partnership with Guinness. Missing the chats, laughs and rugby analysis already? Listen back to all previous episodes wherever you get your podcasts. And you’ll find this week’s instalment below.

Listen to the latest episode of The Front Row in partnership with Guinness:

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