EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Ireland, WP loosie Dion O'Cuinneagain chats to Sport24

Sport24 asked: Your take on Eben hitting back at Bakkies on Twitter?

Dion O’Cuinneagain: I don’t think Eben is the type of player who would miss any game unless there was a really good reason. I think that what he was saying to Bakkies via his Twitter account was, “Maybe just give me a call and check how serious my concussion was and how bad my calf tear really is. I actually am here trying to do a job and when I come out to play for South Africa and the Sharks, I’m also going to try to be on the field.” I think it was just two hard men having a little go at each other which is actually quite fun for everyone else. At the height of my career, social media was not as big but I remember getting criticised by one or two former Irish players who had become media men. I saw them as journalists and understood that their job was to call you out if you weren’t playing well. I never really took the media situation to heart too much. In terms of who was the greatest enforcer between Botha and Etzebeth, I can’t say for sure because I didn’t play against either of them. However, the toughest enforcer I ever played against was Martin Johnson. He was a man mountain who kept three players busy at any one time. In a similar vein, we can all remember games where Bakkies and Eben have just about taken on a whole pack by themselves and won a Test match. They will both go down as legendary South African players and I think we are unlucky they weren’t from the same generation because that would have been an incredible match-up to watch.

Sport24 asked: How would you assess the state of Springbok rugby?

Dion O’Cuinneagain: I saw that Jacques Nienaber rated the Springboks’ 2021 season a 6 out of 10. I thought to myself that if he could give them