England number eight Ben Earl has quoted Ronan O'Gara's famous speech before the Champions Cup final last season on Instagram after England's last ditch victory over Ireland at Twickenham.
The Saracens back rower was immense during yesterday's match, scoring a try just before the hour mark and he was named player of the match. He was a leader on the pitch and is deservedly receiving his plaudits from rugby fans and pundits.
There were many jabs from former Ireland internationals in the lead up to this game. The narrative pre-match from the likes of Jamie Heaslip, Peter Stringer and Ronan O'Gara were that Ireland would win comfortably and that England are not good. It's only right to think that the criticism would be used as motivation for England and they played with a chip on their shoulder.
Earl had a bit of fun on his Instagram story after the match as he made a little jab of his own at Ronan O'Gara, quoting his famous speech he made to his La Rochelle team last year before the Champions Cup Final.
For those unfamiliar with the speech in question, a video surfaced last year of Ronan O'Gara speaking to his La Rochelle players prior to the Champions Cup Final in Dublin against Leinster. O'Gara was seamlessly able to transition from speaking French to using English expletives, all the while keeping his Cork accent in tact. The quote "f****** énorme" is what Earl is referencing in his Instagram story.
La Rochelle would go on to win the Champions Cup that year, beating Leinster in front of a home crowd for the Boys in Blue at the Aviva Stadium.
Ben Earl Hits Back At Media Criticism In Emotional Interview
Ben Earl didn't just use his Instagram to hit back at critics. During his post-match interview where he received his player of the match award, he used his time to respond to the English media who had billed this England side as one of the worst ever.
I’m a bit emotional, because obviously Jamie [George] lost his mum the other week and we spoke a lot about that this week. And then Danny’s 100th and some of the crap that’s been thrown at this team over the last week. Apparently, we’re the worst England team ever, we’ve done pretty well for that accolade.
We knew from the beginning of the game that if we played our best stuff, we’d have a chance. Everything came together today, we’re very fortunate- amazing stadium, amazing fans, amazing teammates, I’m so pleased.
Ben Earl would continue hitting back at the English media, saying they "can write what they want" and his belief that England can still improve on their performance yesterday.
We’ve been training like that every day. And we all know that sometimes it doesn’t translate onto the pitch but people don’t see half the stuff we do. They can write what they want, but I’m so pleased because that’s where we can take this team and there were parts of that game that we can really improve on so really pleased.
I’m working hard, we’re all working hard. Playing the best teams in the world always brings the best out of you so credit to Ireland, credit to our boys, credit to the fans, what a great day.
Earl is right, you have to credit England. It was a great performance, possibly their best since Steve Borthwick came in as coach last year and they were deserved winners.
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