'It is the worst and the lowest I've ever known it to be in my life'
Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio has pinpointed what he sees as the 'worst aspect' of the last 12 months for the national team under Eddie Jones.
Jones was told his reign was over at a meeting with Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney on Tuesday morning, paying the price for the national side’s worst year since 2008.
Forwards coach Richard Cockerill has been placed in charged on an interim basis, but it is expected to be a brief stewardship with the RFU believed to be seeking the release of Borthwick from his contract at Leicester where he is director of rugby.
A Tigers press conference scheduled for Tuesday afternoon was postponed until Friday, by which point Borthwick may have new employers.
Jones departs with the highest win record of any England coach on 73 per cent, but that number drops to 42 per cent in a dismal 2022 that consisted of six defeats, one draw and five wins.
It was this slump that convinced the RFU to act on the recommendation of the review panel investigating a dire autumn series that was bookended by losses to Argentina and South Africa.
The straw that may well have broken the camel's back for Jones might have been the England team being booed by Twickenham at the final whistle after Jones' men were pasted by the Boks. The boos were very much seen to be an indictment of the Jones regime, rather than a reflection on the players themselves.
Speaking about what the new coaching ticket needs to get right, Wasps great Dallaglio said that the relationship with England fans is at arguably its lowest-ever ebb.
"One of the worst aspects of the last 12 months under Eddie Jones is how the relationship between the England team and its supporters has deteriorated. We need much better communication under the new head coach," Dallaglio told the Evening Standards Rugby Podcast.
"The messaging, the communication between the team - and the RFU - between team and fans needs to improve dramatically. Because there is no communication at the moment.
"It is the worst and the lowest I've ever known it to be in my life.
"If you want to get a group of people behind you, you need to let them know what you're doing and you need to communicate that.
"It's a very emotional game and fans need to hear it. They just need the truth."
additional reporting PA
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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