In a clumsy effort to defend Ireland’s honour against Eben Etzebeth’s claims of arrogance, former England flyhalf Andy Goode appears to have sprained his brain attempting mental gymnastics.

Etzebeth grabbed headlines when, during a conversation with Jim Hamilton on The Rugby Pod, he accused Ireland of showing arrogance after the 2023 Rugby World Cup pool stage match win against the Springboks last September.

According to Etzebeth, “12 of the 23” Ireland players told the Springbok lock that they would see them in the final while shaking his hand after the final whistle.

Ireland got knocked out in the quarter-finals by New Zealand, with the All Blacks going on to face the Springboks in the final in Paris.

During the latest episode of the Rugby Pod, ex-England flyhalf Goode was asked for his thoughts on Etzebeth’s comments.

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

“I reckon if anyone said it they would have said, ‘Hopefully, see you in the final’. Meaning we know we are both going our separate paths now,” Goode added.

“And 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’. It’s not happening, is 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.”

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