Ex-England star Courtney Lawes has dropped a bombshell about the pivotal social event that saw Ben Te’o and Mike Brown blacklisted by coach Eddie Jones.
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The ill-fated gathering sparked the notorious clash between Brown and Te’o, ultimately leading to their omission from the 2019 Rugby World Cup squad, and sealing their fate never to wear the English jersey again.
Lawes has now revealed he planned the social, that descended into ‘absolute chaos’/
“I won’t talk about the fight, but I planned that social,” revealed Lawes, who was appearing on Ben Youngs’ and Dan Cole’s podcast For the Love of Rugby.
“I just remember Treviso was horrific. It was like 35 degrees, 80 or 90 per cent humidity and we were getting hosed by the coaches.
“So we were having sessions, then we were doing this horrific fitness before the sessions, and then we’d have to do the session. Nobody could move.
“So we had this mad, long, awful week and me and Lenny [Ben Youngs] were part of the leadership team and we were like ‘why don’t we have a social? Why don’t we ask Eddie?’
“So we went to Eddie, ‘Eddie, I think we should have a social,’ and he was like ‘good mate, fantastic.’
“So we organised this social and we thought it would be a great time. And we get there and everyone goes f*****g ballistic. Everyone. I was like ‘What is happening?’ I was like ‘I’m on the chopping block here lads, please.’
“It was absolute chaos.
“It all kicked off, things happened and then next day on the bus, Eddie got up and peppered us, absolutely peppered us from the front of the bus.”
“Re-imagination” – England handed easy pool for 2027 Rugby World Cup
The new format will feature six pools of four teams, with a round of 16 added prior to the quarter-finals.
This will enable the tournament window to be reduced from seven to six weeks, while promoting a rhythm that builds momentum across the pool phase and respects the same minimum number of rest days between matches as at France 2023.
If the 2027 Rugby World Cup Draw was made tomorrow, this is what the Pools may look like (based on rankings)
2027 Rugby World Cup draw (Current rankings)
POOL A
- South Africa
- Japan
- Georgia
- Hong Kong
POOL B
- Ireland
- Fiji
- Samoa
- Chile
