Australia’s head coach, Eddie Jones, attributes England’s recent poor performance to the RFU’s failure to develop sufficient high-quality players.
Last week, England suffered a surprising loss to Fiji, marking their third defeat in four matches leading up to the upcoming World Cup in France.
While head coach Steve Borthwick has faced criticism, former England boss Jones believes that the responsibility for the team’s struggles should be placed elsewhere.
“The results of England over the last five years… they’re not producing quality players,” Jones told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“And so everyone looks at the head coach, and [says] ‘let’s blame the head coach’. But the onus on producing quality players is the RFU. And that hasn’t happened.
“You’ve got to look at why you’re not bringing talent through, then you’ve got to look at why your talent development systems are not doing that.
“The system’s not right. What needs to change? Where’s the gap? That’s the responsibility of the RFU.”
Jones added that his successor Borthwick is in a “It’s difficult situation. You’ve got an ageing team.
“Anyone who knows anything about sport can see that and then you’ve got new players coming in.
“Some of them have come through and done really well, like a Freddie Steward, others are still finding their feet, like a Marcus Smith.”
The 100 best rugby players in the world:
With less than a fortnight remaining until the commencement of the Rugby World Cup, the rugby specialists at Telegraph Sport have collaboratively assessed and ranked the top 100 players globally.
Presented below is the comprehensive list, starting from the 100th spot and culminating at the first position.
100. Pierre Schoeman (Scotland)
99. Tommaso Menoncello (Italy)
98. Franco Mostert (South Africa)
97. Paul Alo-Emile (Samoa)
96. Sione Tuipulotu (Scotland)
95 Juan Martín González (Argentina)
94. Jasper Wiese (South Africa)
93. Damian Willemse (South Africa)
92. Mark Telea (New Zealand)
91. Faf de Klerk (South Africa)
90. Handré Pollard (South Africa)
89. James Lowe (Ireland)
88. Jamie Ritchie (Scotland)
87. Paul Willemse (France)
86. Shannon Frizell (New Zealand)
85. Freddie Steward (England)
They wrote: “The best England player to emerge in this four-year cycle, without question. Steward has come a long way from having to ditch a shift in Costa to turn out for Leicester in the Premiership Rugby Cup, to becoming England’s specialist diffuser under the high ball at full-back while hoovering up a number of awards. The potential is enormous, and he should thrive at his first World Cup.”
84. Thibaud Flament (France)
83. Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland)
82. Matthieu Jalibert (France)
81.. Jac Morgan (Wales)