England legend Lawrence Dallaglio has slammed Eddie Jones for trying to pull wool over the eyes of fans ahead of next weekend’s Guinness Six Nations game at home to Ireland.
“I hear Eddie Jones talking that this is a young inexperienced side, this a new England side. I mean, c’mon, who are you trying to kid?” said the former No 8 when hosting the latest episode of his new podcast.
“You have been the head coach for six years, you can’t suddenly try and pull the wool over England fans’ eyes and say this is a new era, a new dawn. We’re 18 months out from the World Cup.
“We were told that Harry Randall, who didn’t have a bad game, was picked to pick up the pace of England’s attack and try and get them playing a bit quicker.
“The image that stuck in my mind is every time we had the opportunity to up the pace of the game we seemed to deliberately slow it down.
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“I lost count how many lineouts England had where they went into this mass huddle about 20 yards away from the lineout and then it took them forever to get the call etc.
I just think there needs to be a bit more urgency about this England team and for them to understand that if they are going to challenge the likes of Ireland and ultimately France in the next couple of rounds there are going to have to play significantly better.”
Sir Clive Woodward: England XV
BACK-THREE:
- 15. Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers)
- 14. Max Malins (Saracens)
- 11. Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)
CENTRES:
- 13. Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
- 12. Manu Tuilagi (Sale Sharks) or Mark Atkinson (Gloucester) for Elliot Daly (Saracens)