Eben Etzebeth sparked Ireland’s tour of South Africa by criticizing Andy Farrell’s side for arrogance following their World Cup tie against the Springboks.
Ireland won 13-8 in a tight pool stage match in Paris, but the Springboks retained their World Cup title five weeks later by beating the All Blacks in the final.
The Irish lost to the All Blacks in the quarter-finals, continuing their curse of being eliminated in every World Cup semi-final.
South Africa are scheduled to host Ireland in a two-Test series at Loftus Versfeld on July 6.
While appearing in a recent episode rugby pod With Jim Hamilton, Etzebeth recalled being surprised by what some Irish players said to him after the pool stage match.
“When I shook hands with the players after the game, probably 12 out of 23 said to me, ‘See you in the final,’” Etzebeth said.
“My immediate thought was that because of the way the logs work, we’re going to play France and they’re going to play New Zealand.
“My immediate thought was, ‘Are these people seriously not even thinking about playing the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-finals?’
“What they said was – ‘See you in the final.’ I thought these guys were making a big mistake overlooking probably the most dominant team in Test rugby over the last 20 or 30 years. Of course they can’t.
“We would never say that because we knew we had the hosts and we knew we had to pull together to beat France in their backyard.
“When they found out there was going to be a mighty All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-finals, they sounded so confident.
“I think Frans Malherbe was with me, and I said, ‘I don’t know if these guys are a bit extreme,’” Etzebeth added. “Of course it’s good to be confident, but you can never be arrogant in this game.
“You can have the best season and one mistake or one missed tackle and a guy can get you in trouble.
“That’s the beauty of this game: you can’t be on top forever.”
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