We all saw it, many tweeted about it, and some defended it, but Mike Brown's studs making contact with the head of Conor Murray at Twickenham just over two weeks ago left a bitter taste in the mouth of most Irish rugby fans following that Six Nations loss to England.
At the time, we focused on the Irish reaction post-match, and the general consensus was that Brown was a gobshite, but it turns out that Irish fans weren't the only ones who had a pop at Brown for what he did.
Speaking after England's win over Wales on Saturday, but before Eddie Jones' men were crowned Six Nations winners thanks to Scotland taking down France, Brown claimed that the hate he received from Welsh fans on twitter inspired him to be at his best when the two sides eventually met:
A few Welsh people wanted to jump on me after the incident with Conor Murray and it's great to have so much support around me so that I can focus on the game and not the other negative things.
Of course it gets to me. I'm not your usual full-back because I show my emotions and people jump on that.
I'm aggressive and physical but I like to think I stay on the right side of the law and don't overstep the mark.
A few of the things people have said in the last couple of weeks were not great, but it's about getting out there and showing people what I'm about.
That is bound to irritate those who felt that his boot swiping the area that Conor Murray's face occupied was reckless and extremely dangerous, but no retrospective action was taken as Brown technically did not break the rules in his actions.
One thing we can take away from this is that Mike Brown reads the mean tweets that people say about him, which is some consolation after finding out that he would not be cited, as some of them were very entertaining.
[via Press Association]
