During his visit to Ireland, President Joe Biden appeared to have mistakenly referred to New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team as the Black and Tans, a controversial British police force used against Irish rebels during the War of Independence. Biden praised his distant relative and former Irish rugby player Rob Kearney for gifting him a shamrock tie, which Biden wore with great pride. He added that Kearney was a hell of a rugby player who beat the hell out of the Black and Tans, before correcting himself and acknowledging that the tie was given to him after Ireland's win against the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016. The White House defended Biden's mistake, but he was criticized on social media, with Irish comedian Oliver Callan saying that "Be the holies didn't he just go and give us one for the century." Biden is known to be a keen rugby fan and even played the sport for a year in the mid-1970s, and has previously called the Irish rugby team to congratulate them on their victories. This slip of the tongue is the latest in a series of public gaffes made by the President.