Like an author on their 18th novel, rugby is always looking for unique characters.

If you read social media on a regular basis, the need for legit characters is something that supporters genuinely seem to miss – which is understandable.

Professional rugby can be a very sterile place when compared to the amateur era. Players no longer drink as much booze, rampage through nightclubs and fall out of taxi’s like they used to.

And no one has stolen a golf buggy for ages (hat tip for Mr. Powell).

With the off-field rugby characters now rather limited in their shenanigans, the search for on-field characters has become even more pressing.

The key to being an on-field character has always been that you need to have to have an element of the anti-hero about you – or as it’s known in modern terms ‘sh*thousery’.

What is “sh*thousery”?

Sh*thousery is a perplexing new word which has nothing to do with feces or houses. And weirdly nothing to do with being a ’sh*thouse’ – in the old school meaning of the word either.

Being a sh*thouse used to mean you were scared of something – that you were a coward. Now it means you’ll do something cheeky, beyond the laws of the game, to rile up the opposition – to get an advantage on the field.

Peter O’Mahony/ Maro Itoje/ Ben Earl/ Mike Phillips are great examples of players who would/ will do anything to gain an advantage on the field (sh*thousery), but who are the polar opposite of what we would consider a traditional sh*thouse.

Related: All you need to know about Henry Pollock, the 20-year-old Lions sensation

To confuse the situation further both sh*thousery and sh*thouse have nothing to do with being a ‘brick-sh*thouse’ – defined as being tough, hard and physically strong.

Which means that, to use O’Mahony as the perfect example, he is an exponent of sh*thousery, whilst also being a bricksh*t house, but is not a ‘sh*thouse’. Probably time to stop talking so much sh*t, before the editor cancels my column.

Even when a character does arrive in rugby, their acceptance isn’t guaranteed – by a long shot.

Players we love to hate

Henry Pollock is a great recent example. To many, including the author of this column, he is exactly what rugby needs. He’s abrasive, annoying, and able – the three A’s of being a legit rugby character.  Some love him, some hate him.

In under 12 months he seems to have wound up a fair chunk of northern hemisphere. And with his selection on the Lions’ tour, his reputation is almost guaranteed to cross the equator. 

However, and this is where the waters become muddied, just because some like Henry Pollock and his antics, doesn’t mean that they like all characterful escapades in rugby.

Jaden Hendrikse has caused an online storm with his wink (Premier Sports)

Many of those who love him, absolutely hated Jaden Hendrikse’s actions in the URC playoff match against Munster. The Sharks and Munster’s play-off clash was tied at 24-24 after 80 minutes and following 20 minutes of extra time, went to a rare shootout.

Having taken his kicks, Jaden H then pulled up with cramp (real or not) and received treatment on the exact spot where Jack Crowley was supposed to take his kick from. Jaden H then went on to wink at Crowley in what will undoubtedly become an iconic moment in the sh*thousery annals for years to come.

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The other interesting aspect of rugby characters and sh*thousery is that the acts themselves seem to mellow with age and almost become part of rugby folklore – in a weirdly positive way.

Moments through the years

There are plenty of examples of seemingly horrendous acts (horrendous in a rugby sense) that were done in the past, which then become far more palatable when appraised in the following years.

George Gregan playing for Australia against New Zealand at the 2003 Rugby World Cup (Getty Images)

George Gregan shouting ‘four more years boys’ at the All Blacks after his Australian team had knocked them out of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, was once regarded as almost a war crime, yet now it’s something that people laugh about on podcasts. 

The awesome Neil Back once famously put his hand into a scrum and slapped the ball out of Peter Stringer’s hands. Leicester Tigers went on to win the game and the Heineken Cup – and with it created one rugby’s most iconic moments in European history. 

Then there’s Nathan Hines holding three Ulster players on the floor at a ruck, blatantly, in front of the linesman, with the same lack of respect for authority that you tend to see from Mexican drug cartels.

And who can forget Mike Phillips scoring a try, from a quick lineout against Ireland, when the ball had clearly been touched a spectator. 

There is of course an element of forgiveness with regards to being a true rugby character/sh*thousery expert, and it based entirely on whether it happened to your team – and when. Many supporters will forgive something that happened in round one of tournament, yet will still want to employee a mafia hitman if it happened in a final.

We must also consider that all sports, rugby in particular, involve bending all laws until they break. That is the very definition of competitive advantage.

How many players have stayed down slightly longer with an injury than they needed to, merely to wind down a few seconds on the clock, or slow down the tempo of a game?

How many players have deliberately thrown the ball away to prevent a quick lineout?

How many players have actively killed the ball on the try line in order to stop a guaranteed try?

Are any of those worse, or better, than going down with real/ fake cramp after the final whistle and giving a cheeky wink. 

It may be the wink that took it all a step too far. Without the wink it’s just a player down with cramp/ fake cramp. But with the wink, it goes into the top ten, all time, most characterful moves of sh*thousery that the game has seen. And rugby has always loved one of those.