Penrith Panthers winger Brian To’o married his longtime partner Moesha Crichton-Ropati in a traditional Samoan ceremony on Thursday.
Panthers stars Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton and Sunia Turuva were three of To’o’s groomsmen, with Luai given the honour of being best man.
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To’o, wearing a white tuxedo, teared up when he saw his bride walking down the aisle for the first time.
Several members of Penrith’s premiership-winning team were part of Samoa’s run to the final of the Rugby League World Cup and Luai went rogue in his best man’s speech, reflecting on the time he spent with To’o in the UK.
“Got the privilege to spend seven weeks in England rooming with my boy,” Luai said.
“And if youse don’t know Brian To’o, this man has the stinkiest a** I’ve ever been around. “Stinkiest, and he’s proud of it.
“My uso loves himself. If his phone gallery gets leaked one day, that’ll be the proof.
“As I said, seven weeks in England. Walked into the room, basically all I seen was my uso taking selfies, my uso face timing another girl he met in England — I mean Moesha, face timing Moesha.
“Sometimes I walk in I hear things in the toilet.”
After To’o started staring daggers at his best man, Luai backtracked: “Chill, chill, chill. Nah I was joking. I’m about to get a hiding.”
Luai also dropped an N-word early in his speech after talking about the ups and downs the pair have had in their time together.
He said he had speech prepared but “it didn’t feel natural” so he decided to wing it.
Luai took to Instagram to apologise for his speech on Friday afternoon.
“Just wanna apologise for the words I spoke last night at my brother’s wedding and how ashamed I am for embarrassing both families and my own,” Luai wrote.
“The excitement of the ocassion definitely got the better of me and I took it too far.
“Not much I can do about it now but be a man about this mistake and learn from it.
“Apologies to everyone I’ve disrespected, this is something I will always regret. Love you guys (Brian To’o and Moesha Crichton-Ropati).”
Luai landed in hot water after the NRL Grand Final when he he posted an image of himself and Jaeman Salmon with the caption “My n****”.
To’o’s X-rated wedding gaffe
The happy couple live streamed their wedding before Moesha went on Instagram live, filming herself and To’o driving between venues on a golf cart.
To’o could be heard singing: “I’m gonna eat your a** tonight” and as his wife signed off from the video, he couldn’t resist adding: “Bye guys love you so much. See you guys in nine months.”
The 24-year-old famously proposed to Moesha on the field at Suncorp Stadium after he claimed his first premiership with the Panthers in 2021 with victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Moesha broke down in tears, with the cameras capturing the beautiful moment they embraced and kissed.
To’o was inevitably mobbed by his teammates after she said yes.
It was later revealed that To’o had asked Crichton-Ropati’s parents for their permission to pop the question several months earlier.
But the cherry on top came later in the sheds, when Crichton-Ropati was the lucky recipient of a To’o lap dance.
She shared a clip of the hilarious moment to her Instagram story, which you can watch in the video at the top of the page, featuring the topless footy star grinding on her lap while his teammates cheered him on.
But when the winger attempted to fling his leg over Crichton-Ropati, he inadvertently made contact with her.
The apologetic Panther immediately got up and hugged her.
To’o claimed his second premiership win when the Panthers defeated the Parramatta Eels in this year’s grand final.
