PORTER NET A KEEN VIEWER..
ANDREW PORTER will go Full Contact this month but will cringe on engagement.
Porter put his hand up when Ireland were told to make players available to documentary makers making a 2023 Six Nations series in the mould of F1’s ultra-successful Drive to Survive. He is the first player that viewers see at the start of the trailer for the documentary.
Asked how tough you have to be to play rugby, the prop replies: “Look at my ears, man,” as he shows the camera his cut right ear.
Grabbing his left ear, he adds: “This one is actually fine. Kind of. Believe it or not, this is my good ear.”
Ireland, of course, won the Grand Slam as the cameras rolled.
But while the Leinster star was happy to take part, he is unsure if he will even watch the series when it goes live on January 24.
“I don’t know, maybe without the sound,” he grimaced.
“I probably said a lot of things in it and I’m just like, ‘Ah, why did I say that? Yeah, I’m not watching this’.
“I’ll watch the first couple of minutes and then I’m switching it off!”
He has already turned down the chance to watch it and ask for anything he was unhappy with to be edited out.
“I can’t listen to myself talking or watch myself,” the 27-year-old said.
“So I just gave it to the lads in the IRFU to watch and get their thoughts, they said it was satisfactory so I’ll take that.
“It’s just to make sure I hadn’t said anything I shouldn’t have. I’ll trust them.
“I think my sister and my wife are more worried than I am because they were on it for a bit.
“They were giving out to me that I had the choice to see it and I didn’t tell them that they could have watched it as well – we’re all in it together.”
A video crew followed Ireland from their championship warm-up in the Algarve all the way through, although access to the squad was an issue at times.
Porter revealed that the crew spent two days with him at his home.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he smiled. “I don’t really know what to do with myself on a normal day and then I have a camera crew following me and I’m like, ‘OK, how do I keep them occupied?’.
“So I brought them to the gym for four hours and I brought them to walk the dog. Jesus, you’re in for some viewing – if this is good TV, I don’t know what is!
“If people like it, they like it, if they don’t, they don’t, I’m not too bothered.”
Ireland’s Six Nations title defence begins in France on February 2 and the Netflix cameras are set to roll again.
Before that, Porter and Leinster will face difficult challenges against Stade Francais and Leicester Tigers in the Champions Cup.
“You definitely want to be challenged every week and I am,” he said.
“Everyone is trying to think of the next way to get one over on you, it’s great to be challenged and tested against top sides like Stade and Leicester before the Six Nations.
“Then in the Six Nations you’re kicking off with one of the biggest games of the Championship down in Marseille, us against France. It’s great to be able to have those tests coming up in what’s going to be a huge part of the season.”