Gerwyn Price spots real reason 'rubbish' Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were humiliated
Gerwyn Price spots real reason 'rubbish' Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were humiliated
The Welshman reached the final with Jonny Clayton after 'rubbish' England were knocked out in the first knockout round
Price branded England's performance at the World Cup of Darts as 'rubbish'
Wales' Gerwyn Price has given his take on why England's Luke Littler and Luke Humphries were humiliated in the first knockout round at the World Cup of Darts despite being the overwhelming pre-tournament favourites.
Alongside teammate Jonny Clayton, Price helped to take Wales all the way to the final in Frankfurt, with the duo easing past the Phillipines, Hong Kong and the Netherlands before meeting Northern Ireland in Sunday night's final showdown. However, it wasn't to be as the Northern Irish team of Daryl Gurney and Josh Rock came out on top 10-9 to win the tournament for the first time.
But while Price and Clayton could be proud of their performance, which saw them come painfully close to winning a third World Cup title, the same cannot be said for Littler and Humphries.
While they are the world's top two players, they were well beaten by hosts Germany in the tournament's second round on Saturday, with the partnership of Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko producing an inspired display to claim a sensational 8-4 victory.
It was the first time that Littler and Humphries had partnered each other in the tournament, with the former making his debut and the latter appearing for a second time after playing alongside Michael Smith last year.
While the two English players are good friends away from the oche, Price says that the duo - who both received MBEs in the King's Birthday Honours - "didn't show a team ethic" in the lead up to their defeat to Germany.
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"I think you need to have a connection," said the 40-year-old former world champion.
"You need to have that camaraderie off the stage and connection because when we all turned on the first day - and I'm not just saying this because they lost - but the only two players that didn't turn up together, didn't sit together, didn't play as a team
"I'm not saying who they are but they didn't win their first game."
Branding Littler and Humphries' performance as "rubbish", 'The Iceman' added: "You need to turn up together, you need to be as a team.
"You turn up as a team, you practice together, you sit together. It's a team ethic and it didn't show with England.
"It showed on the board. They're great players individually but you need to be as a team.
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"I wanted them to do well, but they didn't," Price continued. "I'm not just saying that! I wanted them to do well, but they were rubbish."
After beating England, world number 18 Schindler told Sky Sports that he was right to think that their opponents were "beatable" as he and Pietreczko "believed in ourselves".
He added: "We have been putting in a solid performance, and obviously the double 16s from Ricardo just went in, so we are very happy to go through."
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