‘Arrogant’ Ireland made a ‘big mistake’ by underestimating the All Blacks at the World Cup, says South Africa star Eben Etzebeth… with Andy Farrell’s side crashing out in the quarter-finals
South African two-time World Cup winner Eben Etzebeth has described Ireland’s players as ‘arrogant’ after revealing they told him they would face his team in last year’s World Cup final.
At the 2023 tournament in France, the Springboks were defeated 13-8 by Andy Farrell’s side in a pool match.
Despite that defeat, South Africa defeated New Zealand in the final. Ireland, meanwhile, were knocked out in the quarter-finals by the All Blacks.
Giant lock Etzebeth told The Rugby Pod: ‘Obviously you shake hands with the boys (Ireland) and probably 12 out of 23 when I shook hands said to me, “See you in the final”.
‘Because we were going to play France and they were going to play New Zealand, my first thought was, ‘Are these guys seriously not even thinking about the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-final and playing against them?’
South African star Eben Etzebeth (above) was stunned by the arrogance of the Irish players
The Springboks were defeated 13-8 by Andy Farrell’s team in the group stages of the World Cup.
“I was just thinking these guys are making a big mistake by looking past probably one of the most dominant teams, or probably the most dominant team of the last 20 to 30 years, in Test rugby.
“I just thought, ‘They can’t do that, can they?’ We would never say that because we knew we were hosting and we knew we had to play to beat France in their backyard.
‘It felt like they were so confident and saying things like that, when you knew the mighty All Blacks were going to be in the quarter-final of the World Cup.
“It’s good to be confident but you can never be arrogant in this game because that’s part of rugby. You can have the best season and you can make one mistake, or one missed tackle, and a guy will put you on your butt. That’s the beauty of this game: you’re never at the top forever.’
Ireland entered the World Cup last year after beating New Zealand in a 2022 Southern Hemisphere test series and rising to the top of the World Rugby rankings.
Their pool stage victory over 2019 champions South Africa marked them as potential world champions in waiting, but they could not get past New Zealand.
It remains the case that no Ireland team has won a World Cup knockout match.
After advancing through the pool stage as one of the runners-up, South Africa defeated France, England and New Zealand in the knockouts to win the World Cup for the second time in a row.
Ireland was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the All Blacks at the World Cup last year
Etzebeth’s comments about Ireland will add extra spice to the summer test series between them and the Springboks, which will see the two best sides in the world go head-to-head.
Ireland responded to their World Cup woes by winning the 2024 Six Nations, although they fell just short of successive Grand Slams due to a shock defeat to England at Twickenham.
There is no doubt that they remain a good team.
“We want consistency between the World Cups,” Etzebeth said. “We all know 2027 is the next big one, but you want to be competitive. At this stage we want to win one or two rugby championships. Ireland is coming. Everyone is talking about that.’