Thank the rugby gods for YouTube and social media. As a result, the outrageous gifts of King Carlos endure, for at the dawn of the professional era in the mid-1990s until the mid-noughties and beyond, Carlos Spencer was simply the game’s most entertaining player. End of.

There were the wicked steps and the goose steps, the acceleration and the sleight of hand, be it skip passes, no-look passes or between the leg passes, the variety of kicks and the goal kicks. For a decade or so on this side of the world, Spencer and the Blues and the All Blacks were the best reason to get up on a Saturday morning. His game is synonymous with flair.

Reviewing many of the old clips was an enjoyable way of prepping for this interview. As someone puts it: “Probably the coolest player that ever lived.”

Spencer laughs and says: “I’ll take that.”

However for such a flashy player, off the pitch he is easy-going with no airs and graces.

We meet in Foam in Terenure, a busy, popular cafe with good coffee and wifi, and an unofficial hub for the rugby club. Holding forth from his chair facing the window on a warm, sunny morning, the interview is open and candid.

Spencer has already had an energising impact at Terenure. His first game as head coach saw them win the Leinster Senior Cup final against Lansdowne, while his first AIL game was an away win at UCD.

So then, how on earth did Carlos Spencer end up at Terenure?

“It was really just through a mate, Diego Menendez, who looks after the Dogos [an Argentinian-inspired rugby team in Terenure], and we’re doing a bit of business stuff with Cross Ten Whiskey,” Spencer says. Menendez has enlisted Spencer and other former outhalfs around the world for the start-up whiskey business.

[ The inside story of how Terenure signed Carlos Spencer as a coachOpens in new window ]

“We were having a conversation one day, and he half-jokingly said: ‘Would you be interested in coaching Terenure?’ That’s how the conversation started. But then I gave it some thought and I said I could be interested. Eventually, after talking with the club we all thought we could probably make it work. And here I am, three/four months later, in Dublin!”

It’s somewhat fitting that Terenure have opened their doors to Spencer on foot of making their pitches available as a home ground to the Dogos. Named after the national dog of Argentina, though now very much a multinational team, the Dogos play in the Metro 10 and last season completed a league and cup double. Terenure are more open to players and people from outside the school or the parish in recent years