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'It was a bit weird' - How Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball burried the hatchet in 'awkward' behind the scenes moment
By Ian Cameron
Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball have metaphorically kissed and made-up after their behind the scenes bust-up last week ahead of the first weekend of the Guinness Six Nations.
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Jones appeared for the Ireland game with a shiner under his left eye after his locking partner Ball punched him in a training session. The incident was the talk of the lead-up to the Ireland game, with Jones sheepishly addressing the friendly fire after the game, saying ‘a team’s a team’.
Speaking on the RugbyPass Offload Podcast, Welsh teammate George North outlined how the pair made in an awkward moment for the team.
“I try and stay away from the forwards when they go about their business, just because inevitably it’s a physical game,” told The Offload. “Luckily, forwards and backs have their units split and from what I gather it was quite a good unit session.
“At the end of the day, it’s just rugby and those boys trying to get the best out of each other.”
“They have made up since,” confirmed the North, who misses this weekend’s match with an eye socket injury. “It was a bit weird, a bit awkward everyone watching, but they did makeup.”
“Al has had, what is it, 195,000 caps now and he’s still going strong. The boys see what he puts in and they need to have that edge about them going into a Test match.
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“Sometimes, it does spill over and naturally everything gets blown up in the press, saying it was a 12 round bout and it went down to points.
“But those boys in that position, they have to have that edge, otherwise you would be losing.
'I stood there shocked and the No8 on the other team, a player from Ivory Coast, ran across the scrum trying to fight me'
Ex Scotland No.8 @JoshStrauss1 tells @heagneyl ??? why he left Jake White's Bulls and why the ProD2 is not for the faint-heartedhttps://t.co/Z6rg68a0pK
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“Everyone is friends and everyone has made up. No hugs, obviously, because of Covid, but they did knuckle it out. Not like that, but you know what I mean!
“I can’t comment too much because they’re both bigger than me, but at this level you need that edge. You can’t go into a test match having not crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s. Sometimes it does boil over, it’s a results business and naturally, things do get a little bit heated.”
Despite the context in which they won – against a 14-man Ireland – Wales are enjoying an upbeat week ahead of their trio to Murrayfield to face an in-form Scotland, themselves fresh from a landmark victory over England.
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