Eddie Jones is the only person to blame for woeful results, says Sir Clive Woodward
Eddie Jones has become “all-powerful” at the Rugby Football Union and must be held to account after England’s disastrous Six Nations, according to Sir Clive Woodward.
England were beaten 32-18 by Ireland in Dublin and will finish fifth in the tournament, having lost to each of their Triple Crown rivals for the first time since the 1976 Five Nations.
And Woodward, who led England to World Cup glory in 2003, suggested the team was “going backwards”. He also said that Jones had committed a “massive mistake” by failing to hold a thorough inquiry into the 32-12 defeat by South Africa in the 2019 World Cup final.
“I think this has been coming since the World Cup final,” Woodward told ITV Sport. “I still don’t think there was a real debrief since England’s loss to South Africa – everyone was still carried away with the New Zealand game [in the semi-final].
“A no-show in the World Cup final, and it’s never been properly taken apart – what actually happened, what’s gone on? I just get the feeling that Eddie and the team thought: ‘We’re a youngish team, we’re going to win it in four years’ time’.
“That’s a massive mistake. International rugby is game by game by game. The moment you don’t see things going well, you have to make various changes.”
Woodward stopped short of calling upon Jones to step down, and said that the team was "not past its shelf-life”, but stressed that a “refresh” was required.
“For Eddie, the coach, this is time to look in the mirror. The only person to blame is yourself. You don’t look through the window and blame other people, the press or the media.
“You look in the mirror and say: ‘We’ve got to start again now, two years from the [2023] World Cup’.”
“I just don’t know who is there at Twickenham to question Eddie because he seems to be “all-powerful”,” added Woodward following another ill-disciplined England display.
“After this game, he needs to be questioned. What are you doing, how can you give away 14 penalties? You need some straight answers. [Otherwise] at best, you will tread water or go backwards.
“And we are going backwards. We’re going backwards at a rate of knots at the minute.”
Ireland scored first-half tries through Keith Earls and Jack Conan with captain Johnny Sexton kicking 22 points, capitalising on England’s infringements by converting six penalties.
Even though Ireland were reduced to 14 men because of a second-half red card for centre Bundee Aki, and then 13 men following a late yellow card for scrum-half Conor Murray, England could only muster consolation tries through Ben Youngs and Jonny May. Afterwards, Jones conceded that a “re-set” of his squad was on the way.
“It’s been a tough one,” he said of the Six Nations campaign as a whole. “We haven’t been at our best but, having said that, we finished the tournament a lot better than we started.
“We are in the process of changing the team. We need to re-set the team and we will continue with that process.”
