Planet Rugby puts together the finest, funniest and most ridiculous remarks from rugby’s top names during 2017. How many can you recall?
Quotes of 2017
1. "I want to congratulate Christian for coming back. Everyone focuses on the game and the result, but when men like that come back with the fight he's had it's humbling to be around him and he's inspiring not just to his team but to the rest of the rugby community."
2. "We might have to send him down to Miyazaki in Japan to get him to eat some Miyazaki beef. Those Cornish pasties are clearly not working. He has a nice feel to the game, he doesn’t talk a lot and gets on with it. He’s a good prospect for us."
3. "This week, we put out 23 guys against Brive and 17 of them had to report to injury clinic on Sunday and weren't fit to train on Monday morning. Out of our 23 guys, 17 of them needed some form of treatment or were nursing an injury after a game."
4. "To be honest, I’d be pretty critical of it because I think we should have won the tour and we probably should have won it comfortably. There’s the best players in the world on a Lions tour. I know you are playing the best team in the world but with the quality and strength in depth we had, we probably should have won the tour. It wasn’t down to fatigue. It was probably management a bit, in terms of how our weeks went."
5. "I didn’t know the full implications when I agreed to join Toulon because the change in the selection policy came out after I signed. I have given 10 years’ service to the Ospreys and Welsh rugby and have picked up injuries along the way. I would have hoped that would have been taken into consideration."
6. "I’ve had enough of him now. He has been playing really good rugby and he’s managed their game really well. We know he is going to be a threat on Saturday. We’re going to have to close his space down."
7. "I'm pleased with a couple of brilliant defensive efforts and a lot of positives that we can still take out of this game."
8. "I saw the witch doctor for two hours a day and she said she found what the illness was. She found out that there were three lady spirits who had married themselves on to me for the last three years. The witch doctor told me that was why I had been injured. The spirits wanted me for themselves – they wanted to punish me and injuring me was the way to do it. Every time I played – bang!"
9. "I’m done and I wouldn’t subject myself to that. I hated the tour. I did. I just hated the press and the negativity in New Zealand."
10. "Why would you hate coaching the Lions? If you hate coaching, don't do it. I love coaching any team I've been involved in – that's the reason I'm doing it. I'm lucky enough to coach the All Blacks, which is fantastic, if you are lucky enough to coach the Lions it is also fantastic."
11. "We are bankrupt. In other words we are insolvent. It means the union cannot continue to pay off our debts with the banks. We also need money to pay the players so they can continue to play."
12. "It’s only my opinion, but I have the impression that in certain clubs and among many players, coke is very popular. We’ve had the alcohol stage, now we’re at another one. We can’t support that. That needs to stop."
13. "He made it up. The other 60 or 70 rucks should have been penalised if that’s a penalty. If you’ve got somebody that’s occasionally weak-minded, and it looked like that in the last two or three minutes, those people tend to give those decisions to what is perceived to be the stronger team."
14. "He could be in doubt. He’s got a bad leg. He couldn’t finish training. I think he ran into my dog. Annie is a pretty tricky runner and sometimes she gets off the leash. But we have plenty of back-ups."
15. "You’ll take what I decide!"
The Answers:
1. Hurricanes vice-captain TJ Perenara on Christian Lealifano after the Brumbies fly-half made his comeback from a year-long battle with leukemia against the Canes' in the Super Rugby quarter-final.
2. England head coach Eddie Jones on Sam Simmonds after their win over Samoa. Jones said he was pleased with Simmonds’ contribution, but admitted the 23-year-old needed to change his eating habits.
3. Retiring Donncha O'Callaghan on rugby's injury epidemic.
4. Sean O'Brien blaming the British and Irish Lions coaching staff for the drawn series against New Zealand which O'Brien believes the Lions should have won 3-0.
5. Rhys Webb after the Welsh Rugby Union implemented a new rule stating that only players capped 60 or more times may be eligible for selection when playing outside of Wales just days after Webb had agreed to join Toulon.
6. Sharks coach Robert du Preez ahead of the Currie Cup final showdown against Western Province in which his son and namesake ended up scoring 21 points to deny his father and twin brothers, Jean-Luc and Daniel, Currie Cup glory.
7. Springbok head coach Allister Coetzee's reaction after his side suffered a 57-0 defeat to the All Blacks in Albany.
8. Leicester Tigers, England and British & Irish Lions centre Manu Tuilagi on his decision to consult a witch doctor in his native Samoa in an attempt to cure his long-standing injury problems.
9. British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland when asked if he would consider leading the famous touring team for a third straight tour in South Africa in 2021.
10. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen's response to Gatland's quotes on coaching the Lions.
11. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoa's prime minister and chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union ahead of his country's Test against Scotland at Murrayfield.
12. Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal after the arrests of the former European champions’ full-back James O’Connor and the Racing 92 second-row Ali Williams for possession of cocaine.
13. Sale Sharks’ director of rugby Steve Diamond on referee Craig Maxwell-Keys and the final penalty given against hooker Marc Jones following their 10-6 defeat to Exeter Chiefs, an outburst which saw him receive a three game stadium ban.
14. Eddie Jones on Owen Farrell’s injury, after the England centre missed training before their Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland.
15. Welsh referee Nigel Owens to All Blacks captain Kieran Read after Read jumped the gun, by telling Owens that his team would take a scrum while waiting on a decision from the TMO during New Zealand's 57-0 win over South Africa in their Rugby Championship Test in Albany.
The post Quotes of 2017 appeared first on Planet Rugby.