12 March 2024 , 11:35
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Joe Marler has suggested England’s World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward is "a dinosaur" after he took credit for their Six Nations win over Ireland.
England produced a remarkable performance to end Ireland’s Grand Slam hopes in a dramatic last-gasp 23-22 win at Twickenham on Saturday. Marcus Smith hit a drop-goal with the final kick of the ball to snatch victory after a seesawing contest had threatened to get away from the hosts.
Steve Borthwick’s side have been heavily criticised in recent times and expectations were low coming into the Six Nations. But they now sit second, behind Ireland with three wins and one defeat, ahead of their final fixture away against France on Saturday.
Woodward guided England to the 2003 World Cup but has become one of their most vocal critics of late. And his claims in a newspaper column have wound up veteran forward Marler, who used his Twitter account to make it clear what he thinks of the 68-year-old.
Quote-tweeting a post that quoted a line of Woodward’s Daily Mail column which read “I honestly believe that Borthwick's players had read my pre-match column because they were so quickly out of the blocks”, Marler added a dinosaur and a sleeping face emoji.
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Woodward had been happy to take credit for England’s stunning win, writing in his Daily Mail column : “Ahead of this game I wrote that to have any chance against Ireland, England simply had to play with a breakneck speed that would catch their opposition off guard. I honestly believe that Borthwick’s players had read my pre-match column because they were so quickly out of the blocks.
Joe Marler didn't have much time for Sir Clive Woodward's claim (X/@JoeMarler)HAVE YOUR SAY! Do you agree with Joe Marler? Comment below.
“England’s first quarter showed they are improving. It was much better than we’ve seen in this Six Nations so far. England played well. I did wonder in the first 40 minutes if they had real belief they could win the game. But as the match progressed, that belief grew.”
England did indeed start well at Twickenham, but actually trailed Ireland 12-8 at half-time. Ireland winger James Lowe scored two tries, the second of which looked to have the visitors on course for victory.
Joe Marler helped England beat Ireland (Patrick Khachfe/Getty Images)But after tries from Ollie Lawrence, George Furbank and the outstanding Ben Earl, Smith kicked a drop-goal from right in front of the posts to settle it and inflict a first Six Nations defeat on Ireland since Paris in 2022.
Speaking to ITV afterwards, Earl revealed the emotion behind the win. “Some of the c*** that’s been thrown at this team over the last week,” he said. “Apparently, we’re the worst England team ever – we’ve done pretty well for that accolade.”
Woodward was not impressed with those comments either. “I didn’t like seeing a number of them hit back at the media in a post-match interview,” he wrote. “Ben Earl was one to criticise the coverage England received after their Scotland defeat. That’s not what champion teams or champion individuals do. They should ignore the media or just see criticism as positive feedback like I did.”