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England player bike crash revealed in Joe Marler's World Cup review
By Liam Heagney
England prop Joe Marler has delivered a brilliantly entertaining Rugby World Cup review on his eponymously named podcast, The Joe Marler Show. The veteran loosehead enjoyed a fantastic campaign, culminating in his selection to start in the semi-final versus South Africa in Paris.
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His set-piece play on the night was excellent in getting England in front and it was only after he and tighthead Dan Cole had exited that the Springboks began to gain the dominance that ultimately resulted in an infringement from Ellis Genge which allowed Handre Pollard to kick the long-range 78th-minute penalty that left Steve Borthwick’s team beaten 16-15.
Marler is now back in England and he featured in Saturday’s Gallager Premiership match between his club Harlequins and Newcastle at The Stoop.
He has also recorded a podcast special reflecting on the World Cup and his multitude of stories included reflections on his bizarre headed try assist versus Japan, his off-the-ball semi-final clash with Faf de Klerk, his delight that England’s finished in third place after their ropey build-up to the tournament, his special moments with fellow prop Cole and roommate Danny Care… and also the revelation that Elliot Daly crashed his e-bike on a night out.
Let’s start with that high-jinx crash. “They had these unique flavoured Cheetos,” he mentioned to podcast host Tom Fordyce when asked about his uniquely French experiences. “I remember picking them up on a Lime bike midway through a night out with Elliot Daly. We got about six bags of Cheetos, an ice lolly and a bottle of rum.
“We were on these Lime bikes trying to get to the next bar/club. He’s gone scooting on and I’ve lost him and the next thing I hear is just, ‘Argh’. I come over and all I see is Elliot Daly on the floor surrounded by four or five people asking if he is alright, his bike has crashed. He had managed to crash into the back of a parked van. I was, ‘What the fuck?’ He was, ‘That van came out of nowhere’. I’m, ‘It’s parked’!”
Switching to his header against Japan, who had England spooked at the time in Nice, Marler quipped: “It’s a ridiculous rule that that’s play on. How the f*** can the ball hit someone’s head, go forward, pick it up and you can score?”
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He added he hadn’t a clue that this was allowed. “No, I had no idea. I just thought that Will Stuart was inside me and he should have been slightly deeper, a few steps back, and the ball was going to go across him and put me in a hole and I would have scored under the sticks for my very first international try.
“He f***ed up in the way I couldn’t see the ball coming and it’s gone straight on the bonce forward. Everyone stopped. Courtney (Lawes) picked it up because he did know the rule and he went and touched it down.”
Changing tack, Marler recalled having South Africa’s de Klerk tackle him without the ball inside the England half during the second half of the semi-final. “Reverse the roles, I tackle him off the ball, he is getting flattened and it’s a penalty. He tackles me off the ball and what the f*** (referee Ben) O’Keeffe, where’s the pen? Just because it was insignificant and I could barely f***ing feel it, the case is it was a penalty.”
Getting chosen to start in that clash with the Springboks left Marler chuffed. “I was buzzing that I managed to get the chance to start a game as big as that. The game plan we went in with suited me down to a tee. It was set-piece to set-piece, walk, kick the f***ing leather off of it, then more set-piece and then hopefully we will have enough.
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“But I was more pleased for Dan. He wouldn’t have thought about it openly but it would have been at the back of his mind that four years ago he was, in my opinion, hung out to dry a bit for being responsible but there was a lot going on in that scrum and not just that side.
“Also, he wasn’t the one that got skinned by (Cheslin) Kolbe, so I actually f***ed it up and then was happy for him to take the blame for four years. You could sense in him that the redemption he got from that performance was a nice moment and he sort of felt after the game, ‘Right, I can actually finish on a bit more respect than what had happened four years ago’.”
Brighton football, 2003 England winning ugly, padel with Borthwick, Chile minnows and more…
– 7?? minute Joe Marler mixed zone interview as bizarre as his headed England assist, writes Liam Heagney in Nice ???#ENGvJPN #EnglandRugby #RWC2023 https://t.co/y52lsLLLaV
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 19, 2023
Moving onto the heaps of criticism England received for their blunt style of play, Marler said: “After the Japan game I was asked about Olivier Magne saying, ‘Ugly England’. I first took that as, ‘Yeah you’re right, we’re not the best-looking lads’.
“But it was more to do with the way we were playing the game and kicking the leather out of it and that was the gameplan… I was like, when it comes to World Cups no one cares. In 2003, do you really remember the style of rugby the team won the tournament with or the fact they were lifting the trophy?
“All in all, from the shower of s*** that we were going into the tournament, the growth in the team was huge. In no way after being the first England team to lose to Fiji at Twickenham would I have believed someone saying, ‘You will probably finish third in the World Cup’.
“But we did. We pulled together, we pulled our fingers out of our arse and had a good time doing it. There were a lot of special moments actually for a lot of old boys that won’t do it again.”
Name some. “All the different parts of France we went to were brilliant. Paris is one of my favourites to be in and out of… Danny Care was my roommate for the entirety, we had some good times together.
“I guess I’m just really proud to have been part of a team that had a lot going on and off the field going into it and during it and to then actually pull together to come away with a bronze medal is something I am really proud of and really enjoyed.”
