Ball opens up on THAT bust-up with Alun Wyn...
DEPARTING Wales star Jake Ball has broken his silence on the infamous black eye he gave Alun Wyn Jones during the Six Nations and revealed one of their teammates was actually to blame.
Ball landed a punch on fellow second row Jones when a training session overheated four days ahead of the tournament opener with Ireland.
The incident left the Wales skipper with a black eye, Jones sporting bruising and marking on his face as he led Wales to a 21-16 victory which kickstarted their title triumph.
As he prepares to head home to Australia after nine years in Welsh rugby, the 50-times capped Ball has spoken for the first time about what really happened that day.
He says punches were thrown when Alun Wyn believed Ball had brought down a maul - but the skipper had got the wrong man because fellow forward Rhys Carre was the real cuplrit.
Asked about the training ground dust-up, Ball said as part of an in-depth interview with The XV Rugby: “It’s one of those things, isn’t it? The biggest irony was that it was a case of mistaken identity at training.
“Al thought it was me who had pulled down a maul, when it was actually Rhys Carre who instigated the whole situation, but he melted into the background.
“He threw a couple of punches and I threw a couple back. Luckily for me, a few more of mine landed.
“That’s rugby. Me and Al spoke about it and we’ve moved on.”
Lions skipper Jones had declined to talk about the bust-up when addressing the media in the aftermath of Wales’ win.
“It’s just a game isn’t it. I’m sure there is a queue of 100 so we’ll just move on,” he told a journalist at the time, saying his eye was ‘Fine, thanks.’
Ball says he leaves Welsh rugby with special memories of winning 50 caps for Wales and from nine years as a Scarlets player.
“It’s been a crazy ride,” he says, going on to describe the impact Gatland had upon him and Wales. What I will take away is his propensity for hard work. Take some of his World Cup camps, they were absolutely brutal,” reflects Ball.
”Some of the newcomers in 2019 hadn’t experienced it but I knew what was coming.
“That was Gats’ thing, you see. He wanted you to believe that you were almost superhuman. It was a mental thing and he took Wales to the cusp of two World Cup finals. We were so close in 2019 but I’m not going down that wormhole again, it’s a nightmare place to go.”