Did Viagra prank get a rise out of Henry?

JOHN SELKIRK/Stuff.co.nz

HAVING A LAUGH: Ali Williams recounts a story of Viagra-laced beer in his new book.

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Book extract: Ali Williams' Viagra prank

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All Blacks lock Ali Williams has dropped coach Graham Henry into the middle of an embarrassing prank involving the prescription drug Viagra.

In a new book, Ali's Book of Tall Tales, Williams writes about a celebration that went off-key when Henry was coach of the Auckland team that won the National Provincial Championship in 2002.

Williams was a young player in a side that won the final against the odds after a string of upsets. As the result of a bet, another player, who remains nameless, agreed to source some Viagra, which is used to treat erectile dysfunction.

"The bloke comes through with the magic pills for the boys - and they are bloody well handed out pretty much straight after the game, when the celebrations are just kicking into gear," writes Williams.

"One thing leads to another and at least half a dozen tabs of Viagra are being emptied, on the sly, into the NPC trophy, which is full of beer, doing the traditional rounds of the team, with everyone drinking from it.

"So the scene goes something like this: team is drinking the Viagra-laced beer from the NPC trophy - which is probably not entirely respectful to the competition, but what's done is done, eh? And anyone who comes and joins in the team celebrations is drinking from the trophy, as is the tradition.

"And one of the people drinking from the trophy, not knowing at the time about its special super-powers, is Ted, aka Graham Henry.

"Now I don't want to dwell on what may or may not have happened with Ted later on that night ..."

Henry did not want to be interviewed about the incident, telling an All Blacks spokesman "I know nothing about that" before suggesting Williams might be having a joke (after all, the book is called Ali's Book of Tall Tales).

Williams goes on to recount the embarrassing side-effects suffered by some of his team-mates and concludes by saying: "I haven't done the maths to see if, nine months later, there were any unexpected surprises as a result of the Viagra/NPC trophy/beer incident.

"And, like I said, it's probably not the ideal way of respectfully crowning a winning season but boys will be boys, eh?"

Other anecdotes from Williams include meeting the Queen and having to remind the monarch they'd previously been introduced. "Actually this is the third time we've met," he said.

Later Williams inserts a fake letter from Queen Elizabeth explaining why "things would never have worked out between us" and ending with a "PS, we made the semifinals of the 2007 world cup and you didn't - ha ha".

Williams also recounts the night, during Auckland Fashion Week, that he and an Australian model he called Ken (as in Ken and Barbie) ran naked down Ponsonby Rd as part of a dare, calling it a "celebration of the human spirit".

The book, written with the help of Outrageous Fortune scriptwriter James Griffin, will be released next month.

* Read the full extract from Ali Williams' book here.

- © Fairfax NZ News