Rugby Football Union CEO Bill Sweeney claimed that the players’ board supported the decision to sack head coach Eddie Jones.
After a disappointing 2022, in which Red Rose won only five of 12 matches, the RFU has decided to fire Jones from the Rugby World Cup just nine months later.
Steve Borthwick has since taken charge and is directing their first game against Scotland at the Six Nations next month.
The players have openly supported Jones since he left, but privately, Sweeney says they understand why the board took the action.
support the decision
“I spoke to number one. [of players]Conor [O’Shea, the RFU’s director of performance rugby] talked to number one. The conversations I gave without revealing the actors’ names were disappointing for Eddie’s decision to leave, as I didn’t think it would be fair or reasonable to do so. [had] A real understanding and support for the decision taken.” The Good, the Bad and the Rugby digital audio file.
People I spoke to said, ‘Look, we’re disappointed with Eddie, we love Eddie, but we understand why the decision was made’, and they said, ‘We think it’s the right decision,’ without naming the players. In terms of change, what needs to be changed to enter 2023 in a stronger position.
“One of them told me, ‘I was misrepresented in the media because what I said was reported that I was disappointed with Eddie, but not disappointed with the RFU decision, but disappointed with the decision.’ So the people I spoke to understood the general situation.”
Sweeney also insisted that Jones was fired not because of the fans’ backlash during the last Fall Nations Series.
England were booed after losing to South Africa in the last game of the year, this performance and result showed that Red Rose is somewhat behind the best in the world.
does not click
“Some things just didn’t click, they didn’t work the way we all thought they would work, probably the way Eddie thought they would work too,” the CEO added.
“Following the review, we came to a situation where we felt some changes needed to be made, and those changes were probably beyond Eddie’s ability to implement simply because of his tenure on the job.
“You feel the disappointment of the fans. Nobody wants to be booed at Twickenham after the South Africa game, but that wouldn’t be a reason to make a decision to change head coach, it was other factors.”
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England: sacking Eddie Jones, ‘right decision’ article by players telling RFU chief first appeared on Planetrugby.com.