‘Not a f***ing chance!’ – England international slams Springbok star over ‘bulls***’ Ireland claim

Former England international Andy Goode has “called bulls***” on Eben Etzebeth’s claims that Irish players made arrogant comments towards him at last year’s World Cup.

The Springbok star said he was taken back by the arrogance of Andy Farrell’s side following their pool stage clash in Paris, claiming that they told him: “See you in the final” as they shook hands after the final whistle. Of course, while Ireland won that first encounter 13-8, they would later be knocked out in the quarter-finals by New Zealand while South Africa won back-to-back World Cups.

“After the game, you shake the guys’ hands, and 12 out of the 23, when I shook their hands, they told me ‘See you guys in the final,'” said Etzebeth on the Rugby Pod. “My immediate thought was because the way it worked out, we were going to play France and they were going to play New Zealand.

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“I thought, ‘Are these guys seriously not even thinking about the All Blacks in a World Cup quarter-final, playing against them?’ That remark that they made, ‘See you guys in the final’. I was just like, ‘These guys are making a big mistake to look past probably the most dominant team in the last 20 – 30 years of Test rugby’.

“Frans Malherbe was with me and I said, ‘I don’t know if these guys are riding a bit high,'” he added. “Obviously, it’s good to be confident but you can never be arrogant in this game.”

Etzebeth made the comments while in discussion with regular host Jim Hamilton and guest co-host Dan Biggar, who was filling in for Goode at the time. But with the former England fly-half returning to the podcast this week, he was asked about Etzebeth’s claims, which have already caused a stir in Irish rugby.

However, he tore into them as “bulls***” and claimed that Etzebeth wouldn’t have been able to count to 12 after the breathless pool stage clash, before suggesting that the Irish players’ comments had been lost in translation.

“Was he surprised by what he thought he heard?,” asked Goode. “I’m going to call him out. I call bulls***. You ain’t counting to 12 or 13 straight after a game, son!”

When Hamilton admitted that it “probably isn’t the case” that the comments were arrogant and that the Irish players were more likely to have said, ‘We hope to see you in the final again’, Goode agreed, adding: “That’s the word. I reckon if anyone said it they would have said, ‘Hopefully, see you in the end’, meaning we know we are both going our separate paths now.

“There is no way Eben can count to 12 shaking people’s hands. You’ve been in that situation where you are absolutely blitzed, no one knows what is going on. You have just lost a game. Your emotions are everywhere. You ain’ t going, ‘One, two, three, four, five, Caelan Doris, that’s the sixth person to say it.’

“What I think they probably said is, ‘Hopefully see you in the final’ or whatever because the Irish are good people. There’s not a f****** chance that they have gone there and it’s been interpreted the way it has or the way it is in Eben’s head,” he added, before looking ahead to the two sides meeting again in a two-Test series this summer.

“What it does do, though, is it builds an amazing narrative for the summer series, doesn’t it,” Goode said. “I’m saying we should f***** fly out there!”