David Leggat: Waratahs won't miss Ulster-bound Harrison

When Nathan Grey insisted he was not the Waratah with the vile mouth in the racial taunting case this week, the first temptation was to think "yeah, right".

That's not a slight on Grey, just the instinctive, if cynical, reaction.

But if you were assured, as Grey assured the world, that it was not he who had uttered the offending words at Cats winger Chumani Booi, and you looked about for a likely villain, chances are you'd have beamed in on Justin Harrison.

Whenever a Wallaby, or a Waratah, has been in the gun over boorish behaviour in the last few years, invariably Harrison has been, as the saying goes, adjacent to the charge.

It was Harrison who had the spirited debate with Austin Healey during the Lions tour of Australia in 2001, during which the feisty little Healey called the Australian "a plod" and "a plank".

Now Healey may well be the cheeky type you'd love to slap, but Harrison has repeatedly been the unwanted "voice" of the Waratahs. Yes, searching for a culprit over the Booi incident, Harrison would be your man.

You could understand Grey's horror at being fingered as the player with the foul mouth. He apparently told his captain, Chris Whitaker, what he'd heard, and that he had been appalled by it.

A mischievous Waratahs tour planner might pair Grey and Harrison up the next time a hotel rooming list is being drawn up.

Whatever else Harrison - a fine lock when his mind is on the job - does in his career he'll always have the word "racist" muttered after his name.

Harrison insisted he's not a racist and would regret the comment "for the rest of my life". He maintained it was "a very poor attempt to sledge a player", adding that although his remark had racist overtones that is "by no means indicative of my nature. I was brought up in the Northern Territory with Aborigines and many of my closest friends are indigenous."

He might as well have added that "many of my best friends are black". There are times when the more you say the worse it sounds.

His insults came just when you thought this sort of nonsense was gone.

Remember giant South African lock Geo Cronje, who refused to share a room with black team-mate Quinton Davids two years ago?

He was dumped from the squad and has hardly been heard from since.

And the charming Stormers prop Toks van der Linde, who was sent home after telling a black South African woman in Christchurch in 1998 to " ... off you kaffir"?

Not to forget Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann, who served a five-game ban after lashing Sri Lankan players in racist terms after being run out in an ODI in Brisbane two years ago.

This rubbish is most commonly associated with European soccer where black players routinely make their moves to a chorus of gorilla noises from opposing fans.

Spanish coach Luis Aragones was fined 2060 ($5335) after being overheard telling Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes that he was a better player than his clubmate, "that black shit" Thierry Henry.

It's nothing new.

It's just that every time you hear it you shake your head.

Harrison faced a judicial inquiry in Sydney last night. He's not the first rugby player to abuse an opponent with racial epithets.

Humans being what they are, he won't be the last either.

At the end of this season Harrison is off to play for Ulster.

For reasons entirely unconnected to his ability to play rugby, he won't be missed.