Clive Woodward’s classless comments sums up why it’s so hard for Wales fans to support England

What’s with taking their medals ungracious bad losers England

Just watching England fans standing and clapping the South African team. We are not poor losers

And the mainstream English media (e.g. the EBC, for it cannot surely be called the BBC) are also insufferable. The main reason why Welsh people hope that England lose every game they play is to avoid listening to the media go on and on and on and on.... about England! After all, some of my best friends are English.

Their arrogance is outstanding, I don't want to support them, never will support them and always take great pleasure in their defeat. We played the correct way against The Bok, may not have been the greatest watch but we pushed The Bok harder than England did. I also take great pleasure in knowing that so called top rugby pundits like Barnes (who hardly knows the names of the players) and Woodward talk just as much s#!te as an airhead like me

Totally agree well said hope England coach gets the sack he needs to be more professional

Quite right we as a family all complained about it the pundits and what is said here completely rings true England need to eat humble pie

Our family all noticed this so happy faf de clerk said no not really true it has to stop this bias from pundits it’s counter priductuve

Interviewer: “So Faf, did you come into this game with a different game plan from the semi final against Wales?” Faf de Klerk: “No, not really” Enough said.

First of all, I'm Welsh. I think the interpretation of Woodward's comments are debatable. I'm not sure that he was being perjorative. South Africa are spoilers who stop others players...I suspect he was referring to this. Consider Brian O'Driscoll who said that the New Zealand/ England semi final would provide the winner...dismissing Wales and SA. As an Irish man, no comment and a free pass. If he was English, he would have been described as arrogant! He was wrong, but he is entitled to his opinion. Back to Woodward he emphasised that he wanted Wales to beat the Boks and believed they could do do. As Welsh people, we have to take the chip off our shoulder and define ourselves in our terms and not juxtaposed to England or any other nation! Too much anti-English sentiment here!

I noticed that English fans were singing that "chariot" dirge while SA were taking pen kicks. No class unlike the Irish where you could hear a pin drop when their opponents take kicks.

This arrogance is the main reason so many Welsh fans' will always support England's opposition...

If it wasn't for the 24/7 over the next week or month press coverage if England win anything against the usual one day and then forgotten for everyone else - I'd tolerate them winning. As a consequence I'll be having a glass of South African red wine with a smile on my face later....

Smug arrogant and thought by turning up theyd win .....second prize stuffed by a better team

English media has the arrogance to think that they have a God-given right to rule or win no matter what. In Scotland & Ireland is support any team but England, they bring it on themselves.

I for one as a Welshman would never support them in any way because of their arrogance but all I've seen from the media/pundits etc is fabulous England this, brilliant England that with very little about other home nations and they build the hype around how fantastic the team they are with going back to their old PE teachers as well as getting other English sport stars wishing them well before kick off which leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Well done South Africa as well deserved winners.

It was telling how England were completely opened up by the RSA in the last 20 minutes. England collapsed as the Boks ran in two tries. Where was the English defence? They were noticeably losing the will when they realised they were unable to cope with the tactics employed by the opposition which was precisely the same used in the semis. To suggest that South Africa had miraculously become a better side from their previous game was a ludicrous assertion. A noticeable difference to how Wales keep going to the very last minute. Many congratulations to South Africa who proved to be the best team .

Congratulations England on doing slightly better against the Springboks than Japan did.

I don't listen to pundits either before the match, at the interval or at 'no side' as our posh neighbours might say. I also watched by games on S4C who has the best commentator, Wyn Gruffydd of all the channels. If it had not been for Biggar's missed tackle on the try scorer, we would have been in the final. Ymlaen Cymru.

Interesting article. Except no quotes that said anything. From Woodward.

100pc right Ifan

English arrogance in rugby is their well known trait and downfall. SA dominated all aspects of the game and by far desrved their victory

The same can be said for the All Blacks if they had played against England last week the way they played against Wales yesterday, then England would probably not have been in the final. But at the end of the day these are stupid comments to make and people like Clive Woodward should know better and think before putting his mouth into action.

Best team (and rugby) won today, saw no arrogance from the English players (or the Manager!), and they looked no worse than any other side losing at the RWC. (Supporters had no complaints either.) Sympathy to England for having the worst media. Believe what they have to say at your peril, they’re not representative of players or true rugby supporters.

2nd is better than nowhere. Stop being bitter c**ts

same old noises from the welsh......I also heard him say only one of the England bench was good enuf to play in the starting 15, I disagree but he is only stating his opinion, is he anti eddie jones or havin a pop...NO.....Trouble is wales cannot stand England full stop and they think the ordinary English fan feels the same hate...they don't...get over it we got hammered end of, no wonder English players looked out of it..

Why are you getting so upset, so you have decided to not like English teams because of what two mindless pundits said, it is your kind of remarks that cause ill feeling between two great peoples.

I was listening to the radio yesterday and the English pundits were saying this English team are young enough to defend there title in 4 years time, how arrogant is that ?

Aren’t we all better than this? This is rugby, not soccer and we are all family. I really don’t give a damn what the media say; the English players knew the cup wasn’t in the bag and they had a fight on their hands, regardless of what people like Dawson and Barnes thought. Thanks Japan for a great World Cup and well done South Africa. Fantastic performance.

It's the media that stops all celts supporting the English at anything

My best mate is from North London and I am from the same town as Welsh hooker Ken Owens . Yes we love to banter when England and Wales play each other. but at the same time we still want a home nation to win the World Cup and we also believe that true English and Welsh fans want the best team to win. I think the media always put a negative spin on everything making everyone believe that we fans hate each other. Well I can only say one thing about the English fans and that is they always shake my hand if Wales or England lose. I wish both England and Wales all the best for the 2020 Six Nations.

Listen, Welsh team played like mighty Dragons and in fairness to the English, I tip my hat to your performance against the All Blacks, chwarae teg. Well done Boks, you deserve your win and I'm content with the final results but personally, for me, the real winners are the Japanese, thank you for being incredible hosts and I hope this kindles a special long relationship between the Welsh and the Japanese. You played magnificiently and I loved your anthem, was the first time I heard it and I loved it, very unique!

I'm English but have lived in Cardiff for 10 years and support Wales. The whole week, all I've heard from my English supporting friends is how England will "humiliate" South Africa and how England vs New Zealand was the real final. Today, it's been all about how much better South Africa played against England and how having a harder game in the semi final meant the players were tired... The constant arrogance just doesn't connect with me whereas Wales are respectful in both victory and defeat and show real class on and off the pitch. I battled with it for quite a while but eventually, went with the team that I felt represent me and I've been an adopted Welshman ever since.

I have read nearly all the comments only yours has bad language or do you always speak this way, I am Welsh through and through but think it would have been nice for a northern hemisphere side to be world champions, the problem is as most people don't like it being rammed down their throats for the next 20yrs as with all pundits do. If an English person wins its England if it's any any of the other nations its British?

two days before the game i had to switch off talksport , the arrogance was unreal , they were talking about when England came home with the cup should they take it on tour to every major city in the uk and the street parties would be unreal, i am scottish and i couldnt care less if England won or not but the arrogance of the pundits is unreal and we wouldnt hear the end of it , jeez they still go on about 1966

Is this the Stewart Barnes who went to Bassaleg School , played for the Welsh Secondary Schools and then opted to play for England - great respect for his opinion!,

Cymru is more than a rugby team! We have better things to discuss on here - like independence and (real) football.

a. Spectator sport, devised to stop the working man taking his laudanum and settling down to a weekend of dreams. b. I remember N ireland fans celebrating win over Swiss, then going home to Falls Rd, Swiss fans to Lausanne and Berne....... c. Sport should be fun, not a life of pain and early death. Exercise is far better for Nation Cymru. d. Remain United 4 - Brexit Wanderers 0.

I feel sorry for all the English fans( come out the closet when a final appears typical) England played well against New Zealand deserved the win, but as we all know it to there HEADS, nothing wrong with admitting the best team won on the day, but there players and fans think they are invincible ha ha ! and to snub the medals disgrace, typical not very sporting, heroes welcome when they get home hope not, see you all in February see if you can take the title back (6 nations).

Totally agree...particularly Woodward and Guscott seem to have a bee in their bonnets about Wales

England Rugby Union bottle it , 9 times out of 10. Unfortunately, the only time they didn't they won the World Cup. Glad to see it has become as big a ball and chain to them as 1966 is to the football. And now some so-called 'expert' in 'The Rugby Paper' has included four (4) England forwards in his team of the tournament...! Shame none of them bothered to turn up yesterday.

I am a taffy living in Cornwall. The English fans and media here are acting if they won. All the newspaper adverts this morning congratulating and celebrating the England team. What a waste of money ! England have a great team with backup in every position. Imagine what they could achieve with Gatland in charge.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm English and can't stand the bias of many of the English pundits either. Barnes is a disgrace, as is Inverdale. I think Woodward only meant that the SA team upped their game, played as if they were a different team. Never the less, I sympathise. Too many arrogant comments made.

In all fairness I did expect England to perform better, let's be honest they didn't turn up for that game , their arrogance is so bad that because they beat the all blacks they thought they could beat any team , not so, the boks did exactly the same to them as they did to Wales, too strong and too quick in the breakdown and stopped us playing , at least when Wales played them the game could have gone either way in the last 10mins ,as for the Welsh supporting the English, never going to happen , the Welsh have respect , the utter disrespect they showed at the all black Hakka was bad enough, then to see how disrespectful they were after being beaten by removing their medals was disgraceful, they just never do themselves any favours.

1/ I never listen to the pundits, unless Wales are playing, so couldn't care less what Woodward said. 2/ The Boks did not raise their game against England. The same team that narrowly beat Cymru trounced England using broadly similar tactics (one difference: they used their wingers a few times in the second half, and both scored superb tries, but the penalty goal difference would still have been enough). 3/ Team Barrett DID raise their game after the defeat against England, and duly did to Wales what SA did to England 24 hours later. 4/ There were two winning nations in this World Cup: South Africa and Japan (players, supporters, organisers, the lot). 5/ Mervyn Price: pwynt diddorol -- I reckon it was something they cooked up in the dressing room behind Jones's back. Childish. 6/ Cheslyn Kolbe and Shane Williams -- fair comparison?

I was in England last weekend and every English rugby supporter wanted a England v Wales final. After Saturday and 60 mins into the game on sunday, this could have happened. It would been the 1st time two teams from the northern hemisphere would have played in the world cup final. There was no nastiness, just good banter and expectation. And look at Wales v South Africa and Wales v New Zealand after matches. Both teams shared time with each other and the public after the game. Steve Hansen and Warren Garland even had a beer together. That is what rugby is all about. Respect.

Absolutely disgusted that people have to resort to name calling and blatant disrespect for fellow sports fans (on both sides). Everyone that acts this way needs to grow up and enjoy the sport. Each of the games are different with different variables that can influence both teams and players alike. Enjoy the competition and stop bitching about the other fans/teams as there are far more important things in life to worry about!

England in Rugby World Cup medal snub! I think that it is disgusting and disrespectful. They were part of a sporting competition and as such should not be throwing their toys out of the pram. What other nationalities would have done that? Maybe explains why they are not many people’s favourite nation ! What rhese players dont realise is the millions of people including children that were watching the coverage. The youngsters will copy these players and think its the thing to do! Disgusting behaviour !

Now lets see which is better coming 2nd or coming 4th? how many 6th nations is worth one world cup?

Lack of class on this thread which reveals most comments are about hatred of the English and not the love of rugby

In the post match interviews, Faf Der Klerk was told that SA had a different game plan from their encounter with Wales the week before. I was pleased to hear him say that they had not changed their game plan. Interviewers trying to get the answers they want to hear. Well done to SA ??

I totally agree. I was supporting England but then thought why should I ? Our B team did well until a dubious two late penalties cost Wales a win.

Clive Woodward was knighted, for a good reason as these things go. But would he have been knighted if it had been Scotland, Ireland or Wales in the final in 2003? Warren Garland deserves recognition - all these accolades are meaningless but heartfelt - the Freedom of Wales or something? Whatever, he was a balanced commentator, inspiring coach and all round good guy.

I am married to a Welsh girl from the valleys. We are both passionate about our teams (I'm English). When our teams play each other no quarter is asked or given. This does not mean we cannot appreciate the skill of our opponents and give them credit for a well worked move. When not playing each other we support each others team (but perhaps not quite so passionatly). Without being paranoid, it seems to me that some would support any team playing against England. If Scotland beat us in the Six Nations they would count that as a successful tournament, even if they lost all the other fixtures. History, both sporting and political, probably plays a part in this but the game (as this World Cup exemplifies) is becoming far more egalitarian and a broader perspective now needs to be applied. The wealth of talent in our islands allows us to put out four world class teams. No other country does that. Wales (in particular) have adopted the game as their national game and with a small population produce world class rugby. Had it been a Welsh / English final (which it very nearly was) it is hard to imagine the mixed emotions there would have been. We should be grateful to have such sporting rivalry. No team is top forever and this gives us all hope. We should also appreciate that the Southern Hemisphere are currently the predominant force in rugby, and that many countries are taking up the game elsewhere. Where we stand in the pecking order may well change in a few years. Lastly, our sides played well in the tournament. Yes it hurts to lose when you know you could have played better, but isn't that what sport is about?

I am Irish and I think this thread and article sum up why the English (and everyone else) either hates or doesn’t care about the Welsh. I’ve had to live in this small minded little country for years,and you can prattle on about the media but it’s all to do with this vile little country’s hatred of the English,nothing else. Wales are a mediocre team with a terrible fan base,and as for the media,why don’t you read Wales online? Well done England for getting far. As for Wales,as always I hope you crash and burn in the six nations!