Joe Marler replies to Kyran Bracken after 2003 winner criticises loosehead's infamous pre-2019 RWC final interview with Dan Cole

Joe Marler has provided a simple response to England World Cup winner Kyran Bracken, who recently described the loosehead's pre-2019 World Cup final interview alongside Dan Cole as “embarrassing”. 

In an interview with Clive Woodward for The Daily Mail, Bracken and his former 2003 coach went over England’s recent slump in form in the Guinness Six Nations, with Woodward emphasising the point that there should have been an inquest after England’s World Cup final loss to South Africa. 

This prompted Bracken to mention the much discussed interview with Cole and Marler in the build up to the final in Yokohama and he made comparisons between the week before 2019 final and what England did prior to the 2003 final. 

“I saw that Joe Marler-Dan Cole press conference and it was embarrassing,” he said. “At the start of that last week in Australia in 2003 you asked us all to give you one more week, just another seven days to stay focused, zero distractions. It was vital.”

Marler provided a laconic response on Twitter, tagging Bracken in his post alongside a sleeping emoji, but this tweet has since been deleted.

This is not the first time the Harlequins prop has fired back after his attitude in that pre-final interview has been brought up. Woodward had previously criticised it and Marler offered a similar retort. Marler was part of the team that lost to the Springboks, but the 30-year-old opted to miss this year’s Six Nations for personal reasons. 

Although England’s 2021 woes did feature in the interview, the crux of the Woodward-Bracken conversation was about head injuries in rugby and the problems which former scrum-half faced during his playing career and since his retirement. Bracken was one of a few sportspeople who recently gave evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee in the concussion in sport inquiry.