Former Scotland coach Jim Telfer has described England as being arrogant and Wales as 'lazy' ahead of the start of the Six Nations.
Telfer coached Scotland to a Grand Slam in 1984 and was part of the coaching set-up for the country's 1990 success, along with coaching the Lions forwards on their successful tour of South Africa in 1997.
With the Calcutta Cup looming this weekend, Telfer has stoked the fires by labelling England as "too arrogant, pretentious and condescending" ahead of this weekend's clash at Twickenham.
"England are not as good as they think they are," said Telfer to the Daily Mail.
"They were really up for it against New Zealand, very physical against a tired team. If they had played another five times, the All Blacks would have won them all. You have to retain perspective.
"In their favour is the coaching team of Stuart Lancaster, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell. All from the North and all down to earth. They will not let that victory go to their heads.
"The players are a different matter, people like Chris Ashton, Danny Care, Ben Youngs and Manu Tuilagi. They are young, very impressionable and they think what they read is all true.
"There is the makings of a good squad, but it is not good at the moment. Like the English football team, a couple of wins and they think they are world-beaters.
"Unless they are careful they will end up playing in a very English way. The way Saracens play. Pretty boring. The Northampton way. Boring. It is all about forward domination, and the irony is that England have some bloody good backs."
As for Wales, held nothing back when describing the 2012 Grand Slam champions.
"Wales is not an easy country to coach because, basically, the Welsh are lazy," added Telfer.
"Coaching them, playing against and with them, I realised they had reached the top because they were the cream and had not necessarily worked all that hard to get there. Wales do produce very good rugby players."
Comments
road2ruin says...
Yes the English are arrogant but rightly so. The Welsh though, lazy? I doubt it. He did forget to mention the Scots though........
Posted 15:57 29th January 2013
Dezz says...
As a Welshman I find his comments funny and some what true. He's entitled to his opinion and ask yourself what question was he asked to give these opinions. Seems only the Welsh and English comments merit printing because the others were boring and wouldn't bring out the sensitive poster.
Lets cut the crap from posters about the racism, xenophobic stuff and just enjoy the article and the upcoming rugby. I thought we were rugby players/supporters, not some hand wringing leftie liberal getting upset about a nasty man comments.
Posted 15:12 29th January 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
APV,
You're right, Lancaster and co do have a good policy towards the rockstar elements in the England squad and your Danny Care example hits the nail on the head.
What I'm getting at with Jim Telfer's comments is that they will do england no harm whatsoever. Look at Jonathan Davis' comments prior to the england wales game last year. Apparently Jamie Roberts and his Jonathan's name sake were going to run through england's midfield all match! Instead of the predicted thrashing we came so close to a well deserved draw (at the very least) Stuff like that and Jim telfer's comment here just focus the england players and help to get their heads into the game. I love it! Its the same as warren Gatland writing off Dylan Hartley two years ago. When do comments like this ever do anything but help england get their heads straight for the upcoming match? I reckon the rfu could quite happily spare Jim some wages to do the same next week! They don;t upset me in the slightest. I'm tempted to put Jim Telfer on my christmas card list!
Posted 15:11 29th January 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
@propmelsey the Scots actually come out of it quite well surprisingly - full interview on the Daily Mail (if that didn't tell you enough) website.
Posted 15:08 29th January 2013
jamesliveinhope says...
If you read the article its even funnier - his comments are aimed at the Welsh and English races rather than the rugby teams.
Its more like listening to Rab C Nesbit than a professional rugby coach.
Seriously though - Dementia, not to be joked about.
Posted 14:19 29th January 2013
Haldir says...
Never understood this 'England arrogance' talk - no player/ coach has got carried away since the NZ win, all the talks been of slow building. To talk of the Welsh as 'lazy' is just that. Get your own house in order before talking about others' you condescending, xenophobic mud slide.
Posted 14:14 29th January 2013
nabberuk says...
@PREEST
yeah we get it, England are rubbish, blah blah. I would love to know where any England players or Management have been consistently talking up the NZ win without being asked a loaded question.
I swear some people on here just make stuff up about England so they c=feel justified labelling the arrogant.
Posted 14:10 29th January 2013
Propmelsey says...
I wonder what he thinks about Scotland ..... Unprintable i should imagine ........ Thinking about it ..... i can see a lot of Telfer in Campese ... i wonder ....... i wonder ......
Posted 13:55 29th January 2013
Irishzimbabwean says...
Jim Telfer is a modern day hero - Chris Ashton wouldn't last a day with him.
Posted 13:42 29th January 2013
LondonWasp says...
I remember last years Calcutta cup Scotland were already selling 'Scotland Calcutta Cup Winners 2012' T-shirts before the game... Does PR do a story about that?.....no......
I have noticed a pattern on this website, that the stories actually fuel the England-bashers, but tries to hide other teams actually being arrogant.
Telfer should wait until AFTER the match to insult opposing teams (a decent manager wouldn't insult the opposition anyway), because at the moment he is just fueling fires. it will look pretty embarrissing if Scotland lose to both a 'arrogant' england and a 'Lazy' Welsh wont it.... put a can on it boy, let the players on the pitch do the talking
and besides, he clearly doesn't have any understanding of England's view of Scotland. It is almost always our hardest match. i am glad that we have the scots at home this year
Posted 13:41 29th January 2013
PREEST says...
I keep hearing about how England will be full of confidence going into the 6 nations off the back of a good win over NZ. That was in early December. It is now almost February. NZ had had a long year, and were at the end of their tether. You could see them coming undone in the 18-18 draw with the Wallabies. Yes, England won, and credit too them. But I agree with Telfer when he says it has to be put in perspective. The way the win has been hyped up in England would suggest everyone is thinking that England will go on to dominate the 6 nations and win all their games. They won't.
Imagine of NZ played in the 6 nations. They would almost always win every game every year. Maybe slipping up to the French, and less often to the English. Northern Hemisphere teams played the ABs at the best time of year when they are tired and burnt out, yet still can't manage a win most of the time.
Posted 13:25 29th January 2013
APV1 says...
Telfer is more of a pot-stirrer than our very own Richard Anderson. This inflamtory sh!te is just what the scandal-hungry media love and they'll lap it up.
It's all sound-bites and rhetoric - do you notice he's not given a single example or fact, it's just subjective crap?
So the French smell and run away, the Italians are lazier than the Welsh, the Scots dine on nothing but deep-fried Mars Bars and the Irish are all Guinness-swilling leprechauns, eh Jim?
These are the comments of an old and bitter man, trying to drum up some interest in himself and saturday's match. Nothing more. He's reeling off the same old tired stuff that we see on these boards.
As a coach I have a lot of respect for the man. As a pundit, I think he's a nob.
@ rugby_rockstar - we don't need him, as the current coaching team are doing that just fine. Consider the Danny Care situation this time last year. He was dropped for the whole of the 6N because he was a prat. He learned his lesson and is now fighting Youngs for the starting 9 shirt. I like him as a coach, as I said, but England's discipline (off the field, in particular) isn't an issue. "Arrogant English" again? Some examples please, Mr Telfer.
Posted 13:20 29th January 2013
melkdave says...
HoooRayyyyyyy Here we go again,it had to be said England are ArrogantEvery year this is levald at England yet ive yet to see any article or comment by the management/ team ,that supports it.Im afraid i find it disrespectful the great J.Telfer,has been rolled out to speak such utter rubbish.Why oh why,do some people find it nessassary to play such childish games.
Posted 12:54 29th January 2013
Frooschman says...
Having read the full article in the rag in question one wonders at what point Mr Telfers comments become simple bloody racism! Great coach but I genuinely hope we make him weep this weekend!
Posted 12:53 29th January 2013
99call says...
ramm83
Telfer is the first person to come out and publicly put the win against the ABs into some sort of perspective, most rugby people can see that game was a one off played against a side that was tired and recovering from illness, still it was a win and you can only play whats infront of you so far play, but when you take into consideration the 2 previous games against SA and AUS england didnt really perform in those matches and are no way capable of beating the ABs on a regular basis
Posted 12:49 29th January 2013
atg77 says...
On you Jim! I think England have gotten really carried away with their win over a very ill All Blacks team... will be shown up this Saturday.
Posted 12:38 29th January 2013
ramm83 says...
Have to love a bit of crowing a few days before England vs. Scotland. I think the only one lacking perspective is Telfer... Was it Ross Ford who came out last year and said Scotland can beat the All Blacks? We're still waiting...
Posted 12:23 29th January 2013
rugby_rockstar says...
I wish Telfer was coaching England! I love what he says about the players and the coaches.
Welsh fans will probably love to have him coaching their national side too.
I have no problems at all with Mr Telfer sticking a rocket up the England player's backside. He's right some of them need to keep their feet on the ground. you only have to turn the clock back about 15 months to see current EPS players behaving like naughty spoilt 4 year olds. Stu, get on the phone and offer Jim a job pronto.
Posted 12:13 29th January 2013