“An absolute disgrace”: Sam Ryder channels Brian May with a stadium-sized electric guitar performance of God Save The King, but not everyone's happy about it

A number of rugby union fans have been getting themselves in a tizzy over Sam Ryder’s instrumental electric guitar version of the national anthem, which he played at Twickenham on Saturday before the Gallagher Premiership Final.

For once, God Save The King wasn’t belted out by an obscure opera singer, but by the hirsute Eurovision star, who played it on his electric. Afterwards, commentator Alastair Eykyn commented: "It's the national anthem, but not as we know it."

On social media, many fans were somewhat perturbed by this alternative take on God Save The King. "Sam Ryder playing the guitar to the national anthem is an absolute disgrace btw. So disrespectful," said a viewer on Twitter/ X.

Further comments included: "Sam Ryder just killed the National Anthem at Twickenham" and "Who on earth thought that Sam Ryder performance was a good idea!"

‘Absolute disgrace’? It’s not as if the bloke unexpectedly broke into the Sex Pistols’ version of God Save The Queen. And Ryder is hardly the first musician to try his hand at an instrumental version of the anthem - we all recall Brian May doing exactly the same thing at the behest of the old Queen, during her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002.

Others commented on the TV reaction of veteran Leicester prop Dan Cole: “Dan Cole’s face says it all. Oh my days a picture is worth a thousand words or what?! Bonkers man!”

“Well that was absolutely horrific!” another added.

Not everyone was outraged though. One fan wrote: “Fair play to Sam Ryder. He’s made the national anthem sound not shit for the first time in history.”