Owen Farrell's brutal 14-second response to Danny Cipriani's 'England mafia' claim

about his ongoing rivalry with Owen Farrell.

Cipriani claimed that a clique, purportedly led by Farrell, influenced the 2015 England team during the lead-up to the World Cup held in their home country.

Despite the controversy, Farrell responded to the allegations with a blunt and uncompromising stance.

“Everyone knows there’s a clique of players which helps run the team: Owen Farrell, George Ford, Chris Robshaw, Dan Cole, Ben Youngs, a couple of others," wrote Cipriani.

“They’re called ‘the leadership group’, but they’re more like the mafia, always appearing to be scheming,” wrote Cipriani about a squad that went on to bomb out of the World Cup at the group stage.

“Still, I get on fine with most of them. At least I think I do. Sam Burgess is in a WhatsApp group with the mafia until one day he posts a picture on Instagram of me and him in a coffee shop.

“A few hours later, George screenshots the picture and messages it to Sam, before removing him from the group.

"Sam couldn’t care less… I’m not sure what I’ve done to offend them, but clearly I’m not as welcome as I thought I was.”

Asked for his thoughts on what Cipriani had alleged in his autobiography, Farrell gave a short 34-word response.

“I have seen what you are talking about. I don’t even know what to say, to be honest. I know Danny has got a book coming out so hopefully that goes well for him.”

Former England lock Attwood has opened up on the latest RugbyPass Offload

He revealed: "On the pitch, I struggle a lot with Owen Farrell. We just don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things,

“He hates me with a passion. Despite my earthy roots, he thinks I am a posh c***. He hates that. I bagged rugby league once jovially. I was saying it to take the piss kind of thing, ‘a bloody sport for the peasants’. He f**kin’ hated it."

He made 157 appearances in Blue, Black and White over an eight-year period during his first spell at Bath before returning in 2022

His debut came against Newcastle Falcons at the beginning of the 2011/12 season after arriving from Gloucester, scoring four tries in his first campaign

The lock quickly established himself as a key player in the Bath pack and excelled at international level too, with 22 of his 24 England caps coming whilst at the Re

The former England international has also played for Bristol (twice), Gloucester and Toulon during his established career

The Scotland back-rower was the instigator in some tunnel argy-bargy when the players returned to the changing rooms after the warm-up back in 2018 with Farrell at the centre.

Footage of the incident shows all hell breaking loose when Farrell barged his way past a number of Scotland players to confront Wilson, who had been attempting to get inside the head of George Ford.

Wilson later revealed he was banned from Twickenham following the incident.

“I remember that game, I was actually injured and after tunnel-gate, after everything that happened in the tunnel against England, I’d lined up a corporate gig at Twickenham,” he recalled to Rugby Pass in November.

“Had it all lined up, a little bit of cash, all excited, only to get a message back saying the RFU have banned you from Twickenham Stadium after everything that happened the year before.

The pair have what we can only describe as a love-hate relationship. As legendary as the 'best mates' videos were during the 2016 tour of Australia, Farrell certainly didn't seem to be enjoying it.

Farrell and De Klerk ended up at arm’s length from each other in 2018 during their summer tour just before the 20-minute mark and the rest of the two sides quickly joined in.

The pair have since clashes on multiple occasions, including during the World Cup final a year later. Klerk is clearly someone who gets under the England skippers skin and their appears to be little love lost between the pair.

Speaking about the pair, Tom Curry said they are 'very different characters'.