Callum Sheedy admits he "probably wasn't thinking" when he produced a bizarre rugby header which has gone viral after Cardiff's win over Scarlets. The Cardiff fly-half chased his own kick during Saturday night's 21-15 United Rugby Championship victory in Llanelli before heading the ball forward in an extraordinary piece of improvisation.
Viral moment and Sheedy's reaction
The clip has since racked up nearly 1 million views across social media, but Sheedy insists he had no idea at the time that his moment of madness would prove such a hit.
"I probably wasn't thinking at the time, that was the problem," said Sheedy. "I remember the ball sitting up, and I could see Blair [Murray] coming towards me, and I thought it was going be an aerial contest. I thought there needed to be a way of me getting the ball past him, and there wasn't enough time to get it down to my foot, so the nearest body part was my head. It all happened so fast."
Sheedy only discovered the reaction to the clip after the match, when he checked his phone. "I had a laugh, looking back at the video and the boys give me a bit of stick," he said. "I didn't think of it at the time. After the game, I'd gone on my phone and my Instagram had blown up a bit. I'm glad people are enjoying it."
Debate over legality
The incident has also prompted debate over whether Sheedy was actually allowed to deliberately play the ball with his head. Former World Cup final referee Nigel Owens suggested on social media that he believed it was illegal if it was deliberate, while Sheedy says he has heard conflicting views.
"I think it's a split 50-50 among the public," he said. "I always thought it was legal, but enough people are telling me it's illegal, but who knows? Until the next person that does it, we'll never know."
Competition for places at Cardiff
Sheedy played his part in Cardiff's victory before being replaced in the second half by Jarrod Evans, who has returned to the club from Harlequins this season. With Ioan Lloyd also on Cardiff's books, although currently injured, head coach Corniel van Zyl has three Wales fly-halves to choose from.
And Sheedy accepts there will be fierce competition for opportunities. "All I can do as a player is try my best and perform the best I can," he said. "We all want to be number one, so how we go about that is going to be challenging because we're all going to want to play. I'm sure it'll be healthy competition."
Cardiff return to the Arms Park on Friday night when they host Zebre, having lost just one home game there last season. Sheedy hopes another big crowd can help Cardiff make home advantage count once again. "It does make a big difference," he said. "Hopefully we get a big crowd because I remember last season there were a lot of close games, and in the last 10 minutes, the crowd got us over the line. Corniel speaks a lot about making the Arms Park a fortress and we managed that last season."
