Gerwyn Price pulls no punches after Luke Littler and Luke Humphries' World Cup failure
Pre-tournament favourites Luke Littler and Luke Humphries fell short in their bid for World Cup of Darts glory with England, and Gerwyn Price made his feelings clear
Welsh darts star Gerwyn Price argued Luke Littler and Luke Humphries failed to act as a team in the lead-up to their shock World Cup of Darts exit. English pair Littler and Humphries were top seeds and pre-tournament favourites, but suffered an unexpected loss to Germany in the round of 16.
Price and team-mate Jonny Clayton had a better time of it with Wales. They knocked out The Philippines, Hong Kong and The Netherlands en route to the final, where they lost 10-9 to Northern Ireland.
Littler and Humphries came into the competition off the back of the Premier League Darts play-offs, where Littler beat Price in his semi-final before losing to Humphries in the final. However, reflecting on the World Cup shock, Price pointed to the behaviour of the English duo before their elimination.
"When we all turned up on the first day - and I'm not just saying this because they lost - 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," Price told reporters, to laughter from some in the audience before adding:
"But no, you need it," he continued. "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. It didn't show with England and it showed on the board that they're great players individually but you need to be a team."
Price's team-mate Clayton then proceeded to rib the Iceman, reminding him he wasn't going to name the team in question, prompting more laughter. "But no, you need that team ethic and you need to be together as a team all the way through, but it didn't happen," Price added.
"I wanted them to do well but they didn't. I swear, I'm not just saying that because I want to make some fans or anything, but I did. I wanted them to do well, but they were rubbish."
After claiming an 8-4 victory over England, the German pair of Ricardo Pietreczko and Martin Schindler squeezed past Australia in their quarter-final. They came up short against Northern Ireland in the semis, though, with Josh Rock and Daryl Gurney then proceeding to beat Price and Clayton in the final.
"I would like to congratulate Wales, it shows the class of the Welsh team to stay on stage and congratulate us," Gurney told Sky Sports after the win. "Jonny and Gezzy are legends of the game, I think they'll go on and win big titles this year.
"Josh's power scoring was amazing and I was there to clean up the finishing; I was never going to miss the double eight to win the title. I'm so proud of Josh and myself, I put higher regard on this title than any individual events I've won."