Former England international James Haskell questions the timing of the decision to sack Eddie Jones as head coach but adds that Steve Borthwick would be the perfect replacement.
Reacting to his interview, one fan wrote: “It isn’t because he hasn’t conformed, it is because results have been miles off his agreed performance level. Convenient to just ignore that.”
Another said: “Nothing to do with declining results? You can’t demand the largest coaches wage in World Rugby, have the biggest budget & player pool at your disposal and deliver poor results.”
A third commented: “James Haskell makes the point why Jones was sacked perfectly without even knowing it!”
Some fans did agree with the former England flanker. One wrote: “Haskell is right,”
Another said: “Fascinating listen, and he’s bang on right, the puppets who pull the RFU strings have got this wrong.. you’ve just lost your best manager!! I’m a Welsh fan, and it’s the same picture, although Pivac was out of his depth..”
Full James Haskell interview:
“Personally, I think it’s utter madness,” said Haskell, who was speaking to Sky Sports.
“He’s been to three World Cup finals [two as head coach, one as a technical adviser], he’s won one [With South Africa as technical adviser, 2007], lost two [Australia head coach, 2003; England head coach, 2019].
“He took Japan to some of the biggest upsets they’ve ever had.
“And then the best thing is, the person they [the RFU] want to replace him with at this point in time, and obviously it’s an ever-movable feast, is not available. So you’re going to put someone else in charge for the Six Nations who hasn’t been an international coach, just because of some grumpy old journalists, and miserable fans, who decided to gang up to get rid of him.
“Which is pretty much the story of the modern world: If you shout loud enough, and have enough fans in the media, you can achieve anything.
“No, I don’t think England have [gone backwards]. I think the landscape of international rugby has changed, and the margins of victory are so small now.
“You obviously get some anomalies, like Wales vs New Zealand recently, 55-23, but the majority of games are won or lost by a few points.
“And that can come down to a malfunctioning set-piece at scrum or lineout, some clever individual brilliance, or an individual error. That’s how close it is.
“I’m a very big fan of Bill Sweeney [RFU chief executive], and I think he’s a good man. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with him.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the time, it’s if you upset people and you don’t conform – and Eddie Jones doesn’t conform.
“Does he get everything right? No. But I don’t think anybody gets everything right.
“The margin of error for international sport comes down to inches. You look at some coaches and from the jaws of catastrophes, they’ve seized incredible careers, and if one thing had gone the other way, they wouldn’t have had the success.
“Unfortunately, because Eddie doesn’t play to the media’s tune, there were some guys that didn’t want him in there.
The Six Nations was disappointing, the autumn internationals were disappointing, but not to the degree that there were catastrophic errors.
“What some of these older journalists are doing, who don’t like Eddie, is they don’t come and watch training, they don’t speak to any of the current players, they’re not particularly popular with the players because of their opinions, because they are there to sell newspapers.
“Then you have ex-coaches, who have agendas and vendettas, who are able to use their media platform to put things out there. It’s not based on fact. It’s rhetoric, it’s nonsense.
“Talk about the players not being confident, the players losing their shine, players coming in and out of the squad. Eddie is there to put the best players on the field.
“I had five international coaches with England, and they were some of the worst environments I’ve ever been part of. Eddie Jones is by far and away the best coach I’ve ever worked with. He understood how to get the best out of the players, created a competitive and professional environment.
“And some of these journalists when they are recommending people to take over, they aren’t in the same league as Eddie Jones.
“Ultimately, people aren’t honest. And especially in rugby, because it’s run by a lot of old school people, they perpetuate these narratives that aren’t correct.
“I think it’s a shame.”
Players reveal Eddie Jones unacceptable behaviour, Max Malins his latest victim
Harrowing incident:
Eddie Jones’ five most infamous foul mouthed outbursts
#1. Mike Brown
The former England fullback has placed Eddie Jones’ man-management under scrutiny after claiming he was on the receiving end of a foul-mouthed rant from the head coach when being told he was not going to the 2019 World Cup.
“I said to him, ‘Look, I understand selection is what it is, but don’t put it on that. You haven’t even asked me what happened. With all due respect, I didn’t really do anything. I don’t feel like it was my fault. I hadn’t drunk much, two drinks or whatever. There were people in a worse state than me and I was just trying to mind my own business’.
“So he just switched and turned on me, effing and blinding. It wasn’t nice.
“Just be a man and say what is the reason I’m not getting picked. Don’t try to put it on that, because it’s not that. It’s pretty clear and obvious that it’s not that.
“I asked him to tell me what he thinks happened and he said, ‘My security guards were there, they told me what happened’.
“I said, ‘Let me see what they’ve said has happened’, because he said he had written reports. He wouldn’t give me that.
“He said, ‘Who the F do you think you are?’ because I was going back at him and he doesn’t like that.
“It’s a shame it ended up like that. I wanted clarity on why I wasn’t getting picked, not some made-up excuse.”