sport news SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: Forget the 2023 World Cup, Jones should be sacked if ... trends now
England are not just losing, they are going backwards at an alarming rate of knots.
On Sunday, the RFU released a bland statement confirming their review panel will ‘discuss’ the autumn campaign.
This is the same anonymous RFU review panel that has been in place since 2019. So, here we go again. Another year, another review.
England head coach Eddie Jones needs to feel some serious heat from the RFU
After this year’s Six Nations, RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney was widely criticised for stating that England had made ‘solid progress’ despite finishing fifth.
While he stopped short of saying anything so ridiculous, the statement was equally dire.
A full and totally transparent review must be done immediately to look into where the team are at. As head coach, Eddie Jones has serious questions to answer. Everything must be scrutinised.
Since 2019, when Jones’s England failed to turn up in the World Cup final, this anonymous panel has conducted two utterly pointless reviews.
For reasons which have never been explained to me, I have never been invited to participate in any of these reviews.
The RFU have confirmed their review panel will ‘discuss’ the dismal autumn campaign
At the risk of sounding arrogant, I believe I am the most qualified Englishman to conduct an investigation. People might read that and think I’m angling for a job. Nothing could be further from the truth. The role as RFU director of rugby would have interested me 10 years ago, but that ship has long since sailed.
If I were in charge of reviewing Jones and his team, here is how I would approach it:
■ These reviews must be transparent with the people involved named. The fact those on the panel have only agreed to be there on the condition of anonymity is pathetic. It sums up the closeted, secretive nature of the RFU’s governance which is stuck in the stone age.
If you are not willing to put your name and reputation on the line in the same way Jones, Owen Farrell and the team do, then you do not deserve to be judging them.
Everything needs to be looked at. The coaches and players must be questioned. Those analysing the key figures must be named because if they are not, how do we know if they are qualified to do the job?
