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'Until that point, I'll continue to do it': Ben Earl explains his celebrations
By the time the World Cup was drawing to a close, Ben Earl’s notorious whooping and hollering was no longer being talked about, nor was the subject of ridicule. That’s not because he had stopped doing it, rather it became apparent that it might have actually worked and had a positive effect on England. If not that, at the very least it was because his performances were stealing the attention.
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Earl was probably England’s best performer across the entire World Cup, and while he started the tournament being caricatured as a mouthy mascot for an underperforming England, he finished the tournament as the driving force behind a side that came within minutes of reaching the World Cup final and beating the eventual champions South Africa.
Well the Saracens and England loose forward had an emphatic message recently- he’s not going to stop any time soon. Joining Jim Hamilton on The Big Jim Show, the 25-year-old said that as long as it does not annoy his own teammates, he will continue with his now-iconic celebrations.
What’s more, Earl also explained the reasons why he does what he does, and why he bizarrely wore a microphone to training to effectively help him improve on his cheering and celebrating.
“Firstly, the people I grew up loving, taking inspiration from, all did it,” he said on the podcast. “And I thought it was a really crucial part of what Saracens were when we were at our most successful.
“But personally, for me, it’s a really good way of keeping myself engaged in games. A hard game of rugby these days is about 37 minutes. That’s 37 minutes of effort and the rest is rest time, ball’s not in play. So moments like that keep me engaged.
“In a scrum, if we get a scrum penalty, I’m obviously not in the middle of a scrum so I’m not blowing out my arse, I can really get the boys up for this, I can enjoy the victories. And I think on the same side, it’s what it can do to the opposition. If an opponent sees me – we’ve had a long defensive set and we get a turnover – and we’re celebrating, it just shows that we’ve got so much more in us, and we do. Obviously boys are hands on heads, hands on knees, on the floor, gasping for air, if I’m showing others that I’m ready to go, I’m showing the opposition that I’m ready to go, that can only be a good thing for the team.
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“I’ve said this to a few people who have asked me about it, I will continue to do it and if a teammate goes to me ‘Ben, I really don’t like it, it really off-puts me,’ I’ll stop in a heartbeat and that’s fine. But until that point, I’ll continue to do it.
“A big problem of mine when I was younger was I would be very inconsistently in games. I’d have an amazing five minutes and then I wouldn’t touch the ball for ten minutes or I wouldn’t make a tackle or my body language would be poor. I remember speaking to Alex Sanderson when he was at Sarries and we were trying to find ways of keeping me engaged in moments so that I was staying switched on. We came up with that as a way of really engaging me. I remember training with a mic on a couple of times and reviewing what I was saying to others and how I was talking to myself and that’s the result I came up with.”
Comments on RugbyPass
All I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
169 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
169 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
169 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
169 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
169 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the deportation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
169 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
169 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
1 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
169 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
169 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
169 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
169 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
169 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
169 Go to comments