Luke Burgess and Ben Ross: Kissing Rugby Players. Two years ago, this photo of Luke Burgess and Ben Ross making out became the “mankiss” seen around the rugby world and beyond! However, we gotta admit that up to now we are not sure if the image is the real deal or whether it is the product of some photoshopping magic.

What’s your take? Do you think these two rugby stars really made out like this or do you think someone with a lot of time on his/her hand did some image manipulation to satisfy some rugby slash/y dream?

We are leaning towards the idea that the image is photoshopped mainly because the kiss kinda looks intense and is very unlike the friendly athletic smacks we blogged about in the past. [See Football Players Kissing]. It is too good and too intimate to be true is what we are saying.

Here’s what our friend Kevin says about the matter and we kinda agree with him: “What’s happening between those two ain’t just a smack kiss, some tongue-toochin’ is going on too. Do you think these guys will really do that in broad daylight in front of a camera to document their spit-swappin’ adventure? We don’t think so. So we declare that the photo is not real!”

Okay, so that’s that. On to the next question which came to mind because of the controversial photo: Who of these two rugby players would you kiss? To help you decide, let’s check out some of their shirtless pics. First up is Ben Ross posing as Mr. September in a charity calendar produced back in 2007 to raise funds for the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Ben with a porpoise.

Ben in bed with a teddy bear.

And here’s Luke Burgess in his Speedos. [Want another pic of him in his budgy smuggler? Check out our post on Shirtless South Sydney Rabbitohs.]

Luke in a swimming pool with fellow rugby player Chris McQueen.

By the way, did you know that our Ben Ross and Luke Burgess have namesakes who also play rugby? Make sure you don’t confuse one for the other.

The Ben Ross we’ve been talking about plays for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks of the National Rugby League (NRL) He previously played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. The other Ben Ross is younger and he plays Australian rules football for the Hawthorn Football Club. Here’s Hawthorn’s Ben Ross:

Meanwhile, the Luke Burgess we’ve been talking about is one of the famous Burgess brothers who currently plays for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. The other Luke Burgess plays for the Melbourne Rebels in the Super Rugby League.

We hope we didn’t confuse one for the other. Hahaha.

Update: Apparently, the kissin’ photo is real and was shared by Luke himself via his Tumblr account:

This photograph was taken of South Sydney Rabbitohs players Ben Ross and Luke Burgess possibly in 2012. Both are married or in opposite sex relationship with children. This photo was obviously taken at End of Season celebrations and posted on Luke Burgess’ Tumblr account.

Quote is from the Facebook page of the group Straight Australian Men for Gay & Lesbian Rights.