Barretts were gentlemen – but I told Ioane he was a fake-humble f***er

Ireland went into the 2023 World Cup ranked No1 in the world, and beat South Africa in the group stage, before losing their quarter-final against New Zealand.

When you lose a big game like a World Cup quarter-final, you go through different emotional stages. That Sunday night, I was in the self-pity phase: raging at the injustice of it all, fuming at decisions that had gone against us. Watching France lose their quarter-final to South Africa by an even narrower margin (28–29) was weirdly comforting. France were the hosts and justifiably one of the favorites to win the trophy but they got no breaks that night, with the Springboks getting all of the 50–50 calls. It reminded me that no one has a right to