Mark Gerrard had just been explaining how he was putting his family first by leaving the ACT Brumbies when a very unexpected question came from the back of the press conference.
''Does anyone have a cigarette?'' a shoeless man, giving the appearance he sleeps rough, asked having waited for Gerrard to finish a sentence.
''Sorry, that smashed me,'' Gerrard said laughing and trying hard to compose himself as the interloper walked away, politely told by Brumbies boss Andrew Fagan that no, there were no smokers among the journalists and cameramen there at the club's Griffith headquarters.
It seemed fitting that a moment of strange levity would interrupt Gerrard's announcement that he was joining Japanese second-division club team NTT Communications after the Super14 season.
So often in sport an early end to a contract leaves either player or club wounded and angry. In Gerrard's case, he had negotiated in his last three-year contract a clause to let him leave Super14 and Test rugby a season early.
For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times
Email a friend