‘The Irish media targeted me’ – Eben Etzebeth stands by his ‘see you in the final’ accusation against Ireland

The lock went on record with his comments about 12 Irish players saying ‘See you in the final’ as the players shook hands, remarks that he felt were “arrogant” because they disrespected New Zealand who would ultimately end Ireland’s competition in the last eight.

“After the game, you shake the guys’ hands and probably 12 out of the 23 told me, ‘See you guys in the final’,” he said on The Rugby Pod.

“That remark that they made – ‘see you guys in the final’. I just thought these guys were making a big mistake to look past probably the most dominant team in the last 20 to 30 years of Test rugby. Surely, they can’t.

Today’s Sports News in 90 Seconds – 2nd July

“It just felt like they were just so confident saying things like that when you know you got the mighty All Blacks coming up in a World Cup quarter-final.

“Obviously, it is good to be confident, but you can never be arrogant in this game.”

Today, Etzebeth was asked about his comments and said his remarks had been taken out of context.

“The Irish media definitely targeted me after that incident,” he said.

“Look, I said what I said. It was after the game and I see a lot of them said how could I count exactly that amount. You just give an estimate because it was definitely not less than six or seven, it wasn’t more than 20 of them. I just gave an estimate.

“I said what I said.

“We’ll never after a game tell a team ‘we’ll see you in the final’ if there’s so much rugby still to be played.

“Maybe that was their way to say they think we’re a good side and we might make it all the way through, but people definitely interpreted that a bit wrong and took it a bit out of context.”

Etzebeth’s comments have certainly whetted the appetite for the two-Test series which gets under way at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

“They’re a world-class team, they are good at their structures,” he said of Ireland.

“They know what they want out of a game.

“The last few games haven’t gone our way so we’re excited for this challenge, two Test matches in South Africa.

“We haven’t played them in South Africa for the last eight years, so it’s going to be a nice challenge to face them here. I’m sure there’s going to be a few thousand of Irish fans coming down as well, so it’s going to be a great match.”