James Haskell has labelled Clive Woodward’s criticism of Eddie Jones as bizarre while praising the Australian’s talents.
Four wins out of 10 in the last two Six Nations campaigns has piled the pressure on Jones as the game heads into the World Cup year, and a defeat in the first Test in Australia did little to ease things.
There were plenty people calling for Jones to lose his job but England turned it around and won the summer series 2-1.
“I had five England coaches, and he was far and away the best,” Haskell said of Jones in an interview with The Mirror.
“He created the best environment, was the most professional, the most dedicated and knew how to get the best out of players. Does he always get it right? No. Does any coach? But he gets more right than he gets wrong.
“It’s a hard one for me because the only person who appears to never be happy when Eddie Jones is doing well is Clive Woodward. I don’t know what it is about him, but he just seems to come after Eddie for everything. I find it very bizarre.
“Clive hasn’t coached in rugby since 2005 and really has no concept of what’s going on in the set-up.
“He’s desperate to sort of pick this job up between Eddie and the RFU – a sort of performance director role – and he’s never going to get it. I find it astounding really.”
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James Haskell’s dream XV
1. Tim Payne – One of the most hard-working props there has been. Just a complete team man in the way that he plays the game and a very strong scrummager.
2. Trevor Leota – Easily the best hooker I’ve played with. He had the complete skill-set and he put in some of the biggest hits I’ve seen.
3. Paul Doran Jones – I’ve got to go for my old mate Paul. Another very good scrummager, and surprisingly he’s in pretty good shape for a prop – there aren’t many with a six pack but he’s one of them.
4. Simon Shaw – Shawsy is one of the best I’ve played with. A fantastic pro with great hands and great aerial prowess – and a great bloke as well.
5. Chris Jack – A world class lock who would make an ideal partnership with Shawsy. He has ability like no other lock I’ve seen.