Johnny O’Connor and Mike McCarthy are best friends because one kicked the other in the nuts

Rugby players, different breed.

Former Connacht teammates Johnny O'Connor and Mike McCarthy were reunited on our new rugby podcast The Hard Yards (subscribe here) at the weekend. The two lads joined Donncha O'Callaghan to analyse Ireland's win over France but they took a trip down memory lane in the opening part of the show. McCarthy revealed that himself and O'Connor didn't get on in their early days together at Connacht and explained how a fight at training helped bring them closer together. "The first year together was a bit rocky," said McCarthy. "We didn't get on that well and then once we had a fight in training and Johnny kicked me in the private parts and ever since then we have got on. Now I would put him in my top 10 best friends ever." "We had a few little fights at training and we had a code word to break up the fights at the time, it was 'penguin'," said O'Connor. The chat about the fight and the importance of the word "penguin" is at the very start of the podcast, tap the play button below to listen. If you want to be in with a chance of winning a brand new Lions jersey, follow the instructions in the image below. (subscribe here)