FORMER AUSSIE GREAT David Campese has waded into the row over how many England players should make the British and Irish Lions squad.
Lions coach Warren Gatland stirred a hornets nest this week by suggesting that having too many England players in the side could create a media “circus”.
Although the New Zealander has since insisted he was misinterpreted, Campese seized on Gatland’s comments and baited England for hyping their win against the All Blacks last November.
“The relationship between Australia and the Poms [England] is as it’s always been. Mate, you’ve got to sledge [verbally abuse] — everyone hates the Poms,” Campese told the Daily Mirror.
They win one game and all we hear is ‘they are the best team in the world, they’re going to win the World Cup, they’re going to do this, this and this’.One game doesn’t make you world beaters. You’ve only won one World Cup. You’re playing against a country that’s won two.
That’s the way we look at the English.
Gatland, on sabbatical from his role as Wales coach in order to lead the Lions, tried to recover some ground on Wednesday by insisting he’d select an entire 15 made up of English players for the first Test against Australia if they were the best available.
However, Campese — whose mistake helped cost Australia the 1989 series against the Lions — said: “I sympathise with him. He’s on a hiding to nothing whoever he picks. He’ll be damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.”
