Sonny Bill Williams gestures to the crowd after the semifinal loss to England. Photo / Getty
Sonny Bill Williams gestures to the crowd after the semifinal loss to England. Photo / Getty
Scottish rugby star Stuart Hogg has bizarrely taken aim at Sonny Bill Williams, claiming that he didn't care enough about the All Blacks' failure to win the Rugby World Cup.
Williams had claimed it only took him 'five to ten minutes' to get over the All Blacks' 19-7 semifinal defeatto England, something Hogg – talking about Williams' comments for reasons we have yet to ascertain – took exception to when speaking ahead of his game for the Exeter Chiefs over the weekend.
Hogg told the Daily Mail that he'd be "very annoyed" if one of his Scottish teammates had said something similar following their exit from the World Cup in pool play.
"If you're in that situation you don't care enough. You've got to care about your own performance, you've got to care about your team's performance and you've got to care about the environment you're in.
"I think that ultimately will come out in your performance. If you're not caring then, ultimately, what's the point in being there?"
Scotland's Stuart Hogg reacts after being knocked out of the World Cup. Photo / Getty
Williams, who recently signed a record-breaking $10 million deal to return to rugby league with the Toronto Wolfpack, said that his Islamic faith helped him move on, and that he was able to put defeat into perspective.
"The whistle blew, I turned and straight away in my head I was like 'thank you to my creator for being here'," he said.
"But there is another brother in the team, Ofa Tuungafasi, and he turned to me before I said it and said [the same]. I was like 'Yo! Let's start moving forward'.
"I guess some people would look at me and think, "Look at this d***head, he doesn't even care... [but] in my journey in life, I have been through a lot tougher situations and hurdles than losing a bloody game of football."
Sonny Bill Williams reacts after the final whistle in the All Blacks' semifinal defeat to England. Photo / Photosport
In what could potentially be ammunition for Hogg's theory, Williams admitted to the Telegraph that he valued his NRL titles more than winning the Rugby World Cup, saying his league championships were "a bit more special than anything else."
"Growing up as a league man, you envisage those moments so much.
"It has been an unbelievable journey to be an All Black. But when I hear some of the boys, like Sammy Cane, talk about the jersey and how much it means to them, I see the same in me when I was young – except that I was dreaming of playing in NRL."
Sonny Bill Williams gestures to the crowd after the semifinal loss to England. Photo / Getty
However, Hogg argued that Williams is merely content to play wherever he would have the biggest platform, or salary.
"For me, I think Sonny Bill's mind is off it for other reasons and I think he's pretty happy with what's going to be in his bank account by the sounds of it.
"I love everything he's done, but I've always found that he's always in the biggest competitions possible.
"You look at him and he's gone to the Rugby World Cup, then went to a Rugby League World Cup, then went to another Rugby World Cup, then did boxing, tried to go to the Olympics, this that and the other."
Williams' next venture - linking up with the Wolfpack in England's Super League - is expected to begin around Christmas, when he will join the team for their pre-season campaign.
