James Haskell has responded to criticism of him attending the Royal wedding rather than Wasps’ Aviva Premiership semi-final against Saracens.
Lawrence Dallaglio said: “It would be poor form really, wouldn’t it? He should be here with his teammates. I’m sure Harry wouldn’t mind, he loves his rugby anyway.”
The World Cup winner then backed up his comments during an interview on Alan Brazil’s morning show on TalkSport on Tuesday morning.
He added on the matter: “It was just a personal opinion, I was quite surprised. I think even off the field you can have a massive impact on your teammates. As it happened they got absolutely thumped by Saracens.
“I was just surprised that was all.”
Haskell appeared as a guest on the Flats and Shanks podcast that was released on Monday in which he claimed his hero Dallaglio ‘threw him under a bus’.
“I said I was unable to attend, I thought I would be playing in the semi-final,” Haskell told the live audience at the podcast.
“We played against Newcastle and I came off 10 minutes after halftime with my foot, which was killing me, I had a scan in the week, it showed swelling and inflammation.
“I tried to train, I couldn’t do it. As we got into the Tuesday of the week when he was picking the team he took me to one side and said ‘listen, I’ve spoke to the physio, we’ve looked at the scan and seen the inflammation, you’re not going to be right.
“I never really had the conversation as I was intending to go to the game, then Dai messaged me saying if you want to go to this wedding I’ll give you 100 per cent support. It’s once in a life time. I said I’ll message back and see if they still have a spot available, it was so that was it.
“It’s unfortunate to not be involved with Wasps, it’s been my club for 12 years, if I could’ve done it I would’ve done.
MORE STORIES:
-
England name squad ahead of Barbarians fixture
-
Danny Cipriani will change position to play for England
-
Rugby Transfers News & Rumours: 21/05/2018
-
Match Officials CONFIRMED for Premiership final
“But I don’t think it’s fair for me to go and put a load of anaesthetic in my foot and muddle around the field and not make a good account of myself just because I should’ve been at a semi-final.
“Say Wasps are playing an away game, and I’m out doing my bits, and as you know I love my social media, and I post something, so many rugby fans are like ‘why are you not watching, why are you not supporting?’. It’s like, calm down, I’ve been there all week training, relax.
“People get very excited because they can’t disassociate themselves, they are very passionate about it. I am very passionate about it, it doesn’t mean I want to go and watch it on a weekend.
“I spend all week analysing it, I’ve done all my bit in the week to support the guys, living and breathing it, so I don’t happen to want to go and watch rugby in my spare time.
“It’s hard for people to understand that, and I think it’s cheap, easy headlines to have a dig. I am sure if I was paid to have an opinion, I would do it too.”