Phil Gould gives brutal assessment of England’s chances against Samoa as he responds to comments he “hates” English rugby

Next week, England take on Samoa in the World Cup opener at St James’ Park.

It’s set to be a brilliant game between two teams many are tipping to make it far into the competition. The game will go a long way to deciding who will have the more favourable route to the final and both could meet again at the semi-final stage depending on results.

Samoa have brought a star-studded squad to England for the tournament headlined by the inclusion of Penrith Panthers’ Premiership winning five-eighth Jarome Luai.

Many are tipping them to stun England next week including Canterbury Bulldogs’ chief and top NRL pundit Phil Gould, who gave his thoughts on the game on Twitter when asked.

It’s hard to tell if his comments were meant to be in jest, nonetheless, he said: “England can’t beat Samoa.”

England can’t beat Samoa https://t.co/9oXf9kLFxF

— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) October 8, 2022

This caused significant backlash with people claiming he simply hated English rugby league which he rejected saying: “I don’t hate it. What a stupid thing to say.”

I don’t hate it. What a stupid thing to say. https://t.co/0qyFH2qxaO

— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) October 8, 2022

Gould also copped some flak for this Tweet when he reported on the score between New Zealand and Leeds Rhinos:

Full Time – New Zealand 74 Leeds Rhinos 0 …

— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) October 8, 2022

Naturally, many defended the Rhinos, after all they are part way into their off-season and many went away last week after Grand Final defeat to St Helens, and to Gould’s credit he acknowledged this himself retweeting this reply to his own Tweet:

https://twitter.com/RichardCattley/status/1579007705003745281?s=20&t=SBp1JjO5wPpP6SCSdjyTow