England star must ‘keep his mouth shut’ says Etzebeth
SPOTLIGHT: Eben Etzebeth said he was annoyed by Courtney Lawes’ comments about the Bulls’ approach for last month’s Champions Cup quarterfinal against Northampton Saints.
Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White caused a stir when he decided to leave his best players at home ahead of that match in England, which the Bulls lost 22-59.
White was quite vocal about the travelling issues his team would face in the build-up to that fixture and it didn’t sit well with Saints captain Lawes.
After his team’s victory, Lawes went on The Rugby Pod with Jim Hamilton to share his thoughts on the Bulls’ approach
“My take was it’s a very South African thing to do that whole carnival around it, putting it out in the press about the eight different flights, this and that,” Lawes said at the time.
“I guarantee you that a lot of things there were at least exaggerated, to be honest, and it was a great way of them taking the pressure off themselves and essentially putting it all on us.
“Disrupting us, getting us thinking different things and not quite on the ball and that’s what I was pretty wary of, to be honest.”
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Etzebeth had his turn on The Rugby Pod recently and he put Lawes in his place.
“That is Jake’s call. If you are a head coach you must be able to select who you want to,” said Etzebeth.
“In the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup, if you don’t get a home semi, the chances of you winning that competition are very low.
“You are away from home for the quarters and then it’s a semifinal away against Leinster and then you must probably play again in Europe against Toulouse.
“They [Bulls] got a lot of criticism coming their way and it is a bit unfair.
“I saw Courtney Lawes mentioning that it is a ‘South African way’.
“I don’t know why he mentioned the whole of South Africa.
“He surely doesn’t know what is going on in South Africa, so he must rather keep his mouth shut.”
Source: The Rugby Pod
Additional source: RugbyDump
