'It was a bit weird' - How Alun Wyn Jones and Jake Ball burried the hatchet in 'awkward' behind the scenes moment
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.
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.
“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.
“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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I wonder Jake, who do you think is the best fit for Australia as a coach? Not since Joe Schmidt took over as coach did Australia look any good, however, there is always this debate around not having an Aussie coach by the fans and so called pundits and old players.
Some of them are changing their minds now however, but I would love to see who you would choose. I think Joe Schmidt is an excellent coach, who puts in everything for the team he is coaching. To him, there is no such thing as being biased.
Go to commentsExcept for the 6N he has won nothing. No WC's, no Lions tours not anything. He is ranked even behind Eddie Jones, who has won a WC with SA and have a better victory rate than Gatland. Keep your so called "best coach" in the world. No one but Wales wants him. A very harsh Hell No comes to mind if anyone asks if they would want Gatland as head coach.
Guess the man is wearing blinders. Rob Howley is howling mad describing Gatland as the best. What a load of 💩
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