It was set in motion by his magical side-stepping, which sent giant men in the black jersey of New Zealand on a series of faulty trajectories.

That inspired series of improvised team moves, ending with Gareth Edwards flinging himself over the line in the far corner, epitomised the style and verve for which touring Barbarians rugby - a collection of talents from around the world harnessed to express the best in the game with verve and panache - has been known for so many years.

The Barbarians spirit was vibrantly alive at the weekend as an England XI was put to the sword at Twickenham, losing 52-21 despite the visitors having a man sent off in the first half – something that has never happened before to a Baa-Baas player.

What epitomised the victory was the manner in which George Kruis, the former England lock making his farewell appearance, made his third successful conversion after an eighth, end-to-end Barbarians try in the final minutes - casually backheeling the ball over the bar with his left foot.

Kruis appeared to be having a chat with one of his team-mates at the time, breaking off to deal with the conversion almost as an aside.

It was an action eloquent of dismissal, and for the disconsolate and disheartened Englishmen lined up between their posts it must have felt like having sand kicked in their face.

The action of the long-time Saracens player, who gained 45 caps for England between 2014 and 2020, was in that grey area combining flamboyance, flair, devilry and, perhaps, a touch of cruelty. It will certainly be long-remembered as a closing statement.

Last week, there was another example of such showboating sporting behaviour as a tweet was widely circulated showing a runner winning the under-15s 800 metres at the Jamaica Teachers' Association National Athletics Championship in Kingston's National Stadium.

After looking over his shoulder halfway down the home straight, and confirming that he was miles clear, the runner carries on for a while before turning and completing the final 10 metres waving - playfully? tauntingly? - at those following him home.

I wonder what his teachers said to him afterwards.

Wavy lines across the screen, and we are back in the late 1970s, where that apparently brash, frighteningly talented young British middle distance runner Steve Ovett is getting into the habit of marking his victories from halfway down the finishing straight.

You have to back that kind of action up of course - but Ovett, with an Olympic 800m victory at the 1980 Moscow Olympics still in the future, always managed to. 

Strangely, it made him less than popular with some of his opponents. Were they just spoilsports, or did they have a point?

Wavy lines again. We're in Kuala Lumpur at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, and two Welsh athletes in the men's 400m semi-finals are apparently jogging to the line ahead of the rest of the field having a bit of a chat and a laugh.

But the times! Iwan Thomas, who was to win the title, won in 44.61sec, while Jamie Baulch was second in a season's best of 44.83. 

Were they trying to psych out all their opponents? Or were they trying to psych each other out? Either way it was a notable display of insouciance, although Baulch possibly paid for it as he missed a medal by one place.

Showboating in football is something that fans almost always love, but which can provoke extreme reactions from those within the game - which are sometimes manifested in abruptly physical form.   

When the Leeds United team fashioned by manager Don Revie was at its height in the early 1970s, their 7-0 home league win over Southampton was featured on the BBC's Match of the Day, and in the closing stages the men in white toyed cruelly with their hapless visitors with an extravagant series of passes.

As the ball was pinged around by the likes of Allan Clarke, Johnny Giles and Billy Bremner - the latter at one point juggling the ball briefly before sideways backheeling it, that trope again, out to Peter Lorimer on the left wing - the Elland Road crowd began to cheer each transfer.

"To say Leeds are playing with Southampton is the understatement of the season," said commentator Barry Davies. "Poor Southampton just don't know what day it is. Every man of this Leeds side is now turning it on…"

Then Clarke sweeps out a pass with his left foot, coming round the back of his standing foot.

"Oh look at that! It's almost cruel," Davies responds.

For all that, it was Leeds United's very own Jack Charlton who once ran in pursuit of his younger brother, Manchester United's Bobby Charlton, screaming blue murder after being nutmegged.

Showboating in football comes with a health warning and there is an unspoken sentiment within the game that if the mickey is taken too insistently, then brutal retribution will be invited and expected.

Again, such responses also meet with grim satisfaction from spectators. It's an ambiguous business to be sure.

In tennis, meanwhile, one of the more contentious grey areas has involved under-arm serving – something that has been particularly favoured by the often controversial Nick Kyrgios in recent times. The Australian even cheekily tried the surprise tactic against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.

It's legal. It's cheeky. It's sometimes effective. It's sometimes annoying.

In short, it's interesting. Such edgy choices continue to make watching sport compelling…