RFU: We’ll not sweep Eddie problems
SIX NATIONS SHAMBLES... THE INQUEST
EDDIE JONES’ boss has promised the review into England’s Six Nations flop will be transparent – and the findings will NOT be swept under the carpet.
RFU Chief Executive Bill Sweeney is aware of the perception that Jones is a law unto himself – but rejects it.
He insists whatever comes of the post-mortem into England’s worst championship for 45 years, the Aussie coach will be called to account.
Sweeney admitted: “At this level of sport, performance is everything. Momentum can shift in a moment.
“You can go from one week to the next and you can start to have concerns along the lines of ‘Is this a problem? Is this fixable?
Is this a trend? Is this something that we are in control of ?’
“If we had concerns and worries going through the summer, then we would act on it one way or the other.”
Sweeney knows what consistency looks like having worked closely with the All Blacks for eight years during his time with adidas.
He does not need telling that two fifth-place finishes for England in three years, following back-to-back titles, fits in the boomand-bust category.
Sweeney added: “We have very high aspirations, and if you come out the wrong end you must be able to decide if that is bad luck or if there is a reason for coming up short.
“There is no reason for us to sweep things under the carpet, no reason why we wouldn’t have a thorough and honest debrief.
“We want to get better and better. We want to win World Cups. We want to win Grand Slams. We want to win consecutive Six Nations. Look how it feels when we don’t. It is miserable. “You don’t sleep as well. It affects all sorts of things.
“So we want to get to the nub of it to make sure that we can be as successful as we possibly can.”
One of the key areas of investigation will be Jones’ decision to retain the Saracens spine of his England team following the club’s relegation and absence of matches.
Owen Farrell (left), Billy and Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Elliot Daly were all way below their best. George and Daly were eventually dropped, while
Mako was hooked at half-time in
Ireland.
“You’re right to point out the form of the Saracens players,” Sweeney accepted.
“That is something we need to dig into in the debrief.
“Clearly that will be one of the topics and what went with that, around that, what are the implications going forward.” Asked if he regretted the treatment of Saracens, given the colossal impact it had on England’s fortunes, Sweeney admitted: “Life is always a lot easier with hindsight.”
The initial 35point penalty was later doubled to make certain the fallen champions did not avoid relegation.
Sweeney said: “At the time, there was a sense in Premiership Rugby that a really hard line needed to be taken for the credibility of the game.
“In hindsight, would it have been easier for all parties if it had stayed a 35-point deduction and not the 70? It’s hypothetical now. It is what it is.”
Lack of form of the Saracens players is a point we must discuss in debrief