South African lock Eben Etzebeth raised eyebrows last week when he accused Ireland players of "arrogance" after last year's nail-biting World Cup pool stage meeting.
One of the most hotly-anticipated games of last year's World Cup saw two of the pre-tournament favourites play out a tense contest at the Stade de France, with Ireland ultimately holding on for a tight 13-8 victory.
Appearing on last week's episode of The Rugby Pod, Etzebeth claimed that he counted 12 Irish players post-game who said, "See you guys in the final," during the post-match handshakes with the South African players.
Of course, Ireland would go on to lose their quarter-final tie with New Zealand, with South Africa ultimately winning the competition with a one-point victory over the All Blacks in the final.
Etzebeth's comments have caused a stir but, returning after a hiatus, regular Rugby Pod host Andy Goode came to the defence of the Irish team, calling the Sprinbok's comments "bullshit."
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Andy Goode cannot understand Eben Etzebeth's bold Ireland claim
The manner in which last year's Rugby World Cup draw played out meant that South Africa and Ireland could not possibly have met again until the final.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Rugby Pod, former England international Andy Goode called out Eben Etzebeth's recent comments on the Irish squad.
Goode said that he was certain that the alleged comments would surely have been made with an understanding that their paths would not cross again before the decider, and also doubted Etzebeth's truthfulness with regards to his counting:
Was he surprised by what he thought he heard? I'm gonna call him out, I call bullshit - you ain't counting 12 or 13 straight after a game, son!
I reckon if anyone said it they would have said, 'Hopefully see you in the final,' meaning, 'We know we are both going our separate paths now.'
There is no way Eben can count to 12 shaking people's hands. You've been in that situation where you are absolutely blitzed, no one knows what is going on. You've just lost a game, your emotions are everywhere. You ain't going, 'One, two, three, four, five, Caelan Doris - that's the sixth person to say it!' It's not happening, is it?
What I think they probably said is, 'Hopefully see you in the final,' or whatever because the Irish are good people. There's not a fucking chance that they have gone there and it's been interpreted the way it has or the way it is in Eben's head.
One thing which Goode and co-host Jim Hamilton agreed on was that Etzebeth's claims will have only stirred the fire more ahead of this summer's mouth-watering test series in South Africa.
Ireland face the Springboks in early July in a two-test series, with the rivalry between the pair having ramped up in recent years. The sides face off in Pretoria on July 6th and Durban on July 13th.
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