"Long may it continue!" - Colin Lloyd loved seeing Michael Smith & Peter Wright's war of words at 2024 World Cup of Darts
PDC
Frankfurt, Germany played host to the 2024 World Cup of Darts last week. England eventually prevailed there, with Michael Smith and Luke Humphries beating Austria's Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez 10-6 in the final.
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In the duo of Smith and Humphries, at this year's World Cup of Darts the English could upon the world's numbers one and three, ranked players. As such, England was the top seed and pre-tournament favourite. After avoiding the potential pitfalls of the group stage, Smith and Humphries subsequently defeated France and Northern Ireland in succession. Then in the semifinals came the clash with the Scotland of Peter Wright and Gary Anderson.
Beforehand, Wright couldn't resist riling up the English a bit. "We're gonna smash up England!" Proclaimed the Scot on stage after he and Anderson had survived a scare against Sweden to reach the semifinals. England eventually won the match 8-4 and afterwards Smith could not resist replying to Wright. "The guy's just averaged 78 and he's tried giving me shit?!" Smith said. "That guy should have some strong shoulders because he's been holding the Premier League up for two years."
Michael Smith and Luke Humphries pose proudly with the World Cup of Darts trophy
Former world number one Colin Lloyd watched all the drama unfold and loved to see a bit of old fashioned banter brought back into the game. "It's all part and parcel of the game and I loved it," Jaws explained with a beaming smile to Emma Paton on Sky Sports' Love the Darts podcast. "Long may it continue!"
In the final, England was 10-6 too strong for the Austrian duo of Mensur Suljovic and Rowby-John Rodriguez. For England, it was the first final victory since 2015 at the World Cup of Darts and also only the first time a duo other than Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis won the tournament. Notably, the England - Scotland rivalry will also be renewed at the upcoming World Matchplay as Michael Smith takes on Gary Anderson in the first round.
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Kieran WoodDarts Journalist
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He contributes to DartsNews.com, where he covers professional darts through news, match reports, analysis, and live coverage across the PDC calendar and major tournaments.
A key part of his work is on-site reporting from leading events. Kieran has covered the PDC World Darts Championship in person, reporting daily from the venue and providing first-hand insight from the tournament. During his coverage, he has conducted interviews with leading players including Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price.
He is also one of the leading voices of the English-language Dartsnews Podcast, contributing regular analysis and discussion on developments across the professional darts circuit.
In his reporting, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles when new, verified information becomes available.
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