Did you hear the one about Dev and Michael Collins at the rugby?

Would the big fella and the long fella have made the trip to Cardiff?

A joke by Irish rugby fans on their way to watch the Rugby World Cup match against Canada last weekend has made it to the pages of British newspaper Metro.

The unknown pranksters targeted staff in Cardiff airport and convinced them that they were missing some friends from their group.

The obliging folk at the airport agreed to make an announcement looking for the missing men and called it out over the tannoy.

We can only imagine the reaction from the hordes of Irish fans to the poor announcer requesting that Eamon De Valera and Michael Collins please make their way to a meeting area.

A Padraig Pearse was also supposedly in their company.

The story found its way into the ‘and finally’ section of the newspaper where it was spotted by the eagle-eyed John Harte.

Is this the best prank by rugby fans so far? #RWC2015 @MetroUK @IrishRugby @rugbyworldcup @thejournal_ie @ballsdotie pic.twitter.com/ZUeCbG2TQn

— John Harte (@johnnieharte) September 23, 2015

Well played all round.

We wonder - what would the big fella and the long fella have thought of the Rugby World Cup?