Alex Corbisiero made his England debut against Italy and celebrated by rapping in the England dressing room. The London Irish prop, who was called up 24 hours before the game to replace the injured Andrew Sheridan was asked to perform the traditional initiation ceremony.
‘I wasn’t going on the bus after the game,’ Corbisiero revealed, ‘so I did a rap in the dressing room after the match.
‘I can’t tell you exactly what I sang as I made it up on the spur of the moment about playing for England, the boys and what it meant to me. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I didn’t have time to think about it – I hope it doesn’t appear on You Tube!’

But what is on You Tube is the young prop rapping in the London Irish gym. So to get a taste of what the England team was served up see below


Corbisiero completed a remarkable debut not putting a foot wrong, even though he had to go head-to-head with one of the most feared props in the world game, Martin Castrogiovanni.
‘I was nervous but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,’ said Corbisiero. ‘I tried to sing the anthem passionately and do my job. The rest of the side, Dan Cole and Dylan Hartley, were a big help to me.
‘It was a pleasure to play against Castro, a man I have looked up to over the years. I have a lot of respect for him.
‘Playing for England was a great experience and everything I had dreamt of. All the boys played really well which allowed me to focus on what I had to do around the field. An amazing experience.
‘It means a lot playing for your country, something I have wanted to do since I was very young.
‘Perhaps it helped my nerves not to have a long build-up but
Corbisiero was on the sidelines back in 2007 when his London Irish team-mate back-rower Juan Leguizamon famously dropped the ball over the line, trying to score, a dive Chris Ashton again repeated for England, against Italy, with better consequences.
‘I was in the Academy at the time, but I trust Chris and it is his decision. He scored the try so he can do what he wants – I was so happy we scored,’ said Corbisiero.
‘Coming into a team like this gives you a clear head to focus on what you have to do and nothing else.
‘The pace is definitely a big step up along with the physicality and skill level. The speed of Test rugby is outstanding.’
New York-born Corbisiero is also qualified to play for USA and Italy adding: ‘Maybe when I was younger (I thought of playing for USA) when I didn’t know if rugby was going to take off the way I wanted it to.
‘But once I got the first opportunity with England Under-18s I never looked back.
‘I think they will having been watching over there and I had so much support.’