In Australia, streakers at sporting events are usually ignored. But in France, they get bombarded with publicity and almost become cult heroes - as two brothers who invaded the pitch during the Australia-Fiji match in Montpellier have discovered.

For days on end, there have been stories in the local press and radio about Benoit and Nicolas, who ran around the ground wearing bizarre wigs and G-strings.

Their court case prompted headlines and they received a three-month ban from attending any local stadiums, which finishes on Christmas Day.

The brothers have said: "This will be our Christmas present".

In court, their lawyer came up with an interesting defence, which obviously didn't work. He argued: why should they be victimised, when they are only bringing smiles to people's faces?


"It was a jest of humour," said lawyer Alexandra Grevin. "I asked if making 35,000 people laugh and millions of TV viewers counts for something."

The judge wasn't smiling.