South Africa’s double World Cup winner Eben Etzebeth has described Ireland’s players as ‘arrogant’ after revealing they told him they would meet his team in last year’s World Cup final.
At the 2023 tournament in France, the Springboks were beaten 13-8 by Andy Farrell’s side in what was a pool stage clash.
Despite that defeat, South Africa went on to beat New Zealand in the final. Ireland, meanwhile, were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by the All Blacks.
Giant lock Etzebeth told The Rugby Pod: ‘Obviously you shake the guys’ (Ireland’s) hands and probably 12 out of the 23 when I shook the hands told me “See you guys in the final”.
‘Because we were going to play France and they were going to play New Zealand, my immediate thought was, “Are these guys seriously not even thinking about the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-final and playing against them?
South Africa star Eben Etzebeth (above) was stunned by the arrogance of Ireland’s players
The Springboks were beaten 13-8 by Andy Farrell’s side in the pool stage at the World Cup
‘I was just like these guys are making a big mistake to look past probably one of the most dominant teams, or probably the most dominant team in the last 20 to 30 years, of Test rugby.
‘I was just like, “Surely they can’t?” We would never say that because we knew we had the host nation and we knew we had to pitch up to beat France in their backyard.
‘It felt like they were just so, so confident saying things like that when you knew you had got the mighty All Blacks coming in a World Cup quarter-final.
‘It’s good to be confident but you can never be arrogant in this game because that’s the thing about rugby. You can have the best season and you can have one slip-up, or one missed tackle, and a guy puts you on your arse. That is the beauty of this game – you are never on top forever.’
Ireland went into last year’s World Cup having beaten New Zealand in a Test series in the southern hemisphere in 2022 and having risen to the top of World Rugby’s rankings.
Their pool stage win over 2019 champions South Africa rubber stamped them as potential global champions in waiting but they couldn’t get past New Zealand.
It remains the case no Ireland side has won a World Cup knock-out game.
After coming through the pool stages as one of the runners-up, South Africa went on to beat France, England and New Zealand in the knock-outs to lift the World Cup for the second straight time.
Ireland were knocked out at the quarter-final stage by the All Blacks at the World Cup last year
Etzebeth’s comments on Ireland will add extra spice to the summer Test series between them and the Springboks which will see the two best sides on the planet go head-to-head.
Ireland responded to their World Cup misery by winning the 2024 Six Nations although they just fell short of back-to-back Grand Slams due to a shock defeat by England at Twickenham.
There is no doubt they remain a fine side.
‘We want consistency between World Cups,’ Etzebeth said. ‘We all know 2027 is the next big one but you do want to be competitive. We want to win one or two Rugby Championships within this phase. We have got Ireland coming up. Everyone is talking about that.’
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