World Snooker Championship stars broke golden rule and angered Jimmy White

 Stuart Bingham and Jack Lisowski were doing battle for a place in the World Snooker Championship quarter-final and shared a friendly conversation.

Stuart Bingham and Jack Lisowski in conversation at the Crucible

World Snooker Championship commentators Jimmy White and Alan McManus both raised eyebrows over the friendly conversation between Stuart Bingham and Jack Lisowski during their second-round match at the Crucible a year ago. The two commentators suggested that true 'winners' don't engage in such behaviour - with neither player managing to get through qualifying and into the main draw this year.

But 12 months ago, Bingham and Lisowski were vying for a quarter-final place at the tournament and an additional £20,000 in prize money. However, there was no apparent animosity between the two during the first session of their match on the Saturday. While both were in the seating area, Lisowski seemed to initiate a conversation with his rival, who responded with a smile, laughter, and his own remarks. Former snooker champions White and McManus felt that the camaraderie shown was unusual considering what was on the line.

"I tend to be on the side of... if Stuart wants to talk to you, you can say ok, blah blah blah, whatever," McManus said on Eurosport.

"But really, just focus on your own game. You're not being disrespectful or ignoring the other guy or being unfriendly. Perhaps it just softened him up a bit, maybe."

White took it a step further by noting that, in his view, 'winners' wouldn't behave in the same manner. He stated: "This is the weird situation with the Crucible and the two table set-up. You are actually sitting next to each other, but most of the winners don't talk, I can assure you."

Lisowski started strong at the Crucible with breaks of 82 and 88, but Bingham, using his wealth of experience, remained composed and managed to secure a 5-3 lead going into Sunday's afternoon session.

Bingham eventually took the match 13-11 and then beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-10 in the quarter-finals. But he fell 17-12 to Jak Jones in the semis.

Bingham boasts the 2015 world title as the pinnacle of his career. On the other hand, Lisowski has yet to progress past the quarter-finals in snooker's premier tournament.