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'Unacceptable ' - Dallaglio leads England 2003 heavyweights calling for change
By PA
Lawrence Dallaglio has demanded that England make changes to their coaching team and playing squad in response to an “unacceptable” Guinness Six Nations from Eddie Jones’ men.
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Descent from champions to a fifth-place finish was confirmed by Saturday’s 32-18 collapse against Ireland in Dublin, with a string of poor performances placing Jones’ position as head coach under intense scrutiny.
Dallaglio, a former red rose captain and 2003 World Cup winner, believes Jones must act decisively to engineer an exit from the current slump.
“Eddie is in his sixth year with England. He has done some very, very good things,” Dallaglio told BT Sport.
“England have won three of the last six Six Nations campaigns. They got to a World Cup final (in 2019) and were well beaten in that.
“Finishing fifth, losing to Wales, Scotland and Ireland is unacceptable for England. Things have to change.
Sir Clive has gone for a real hipster pick at No.8: https://t.co/PnhzGOoKgb
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 21, 2021
“If Eddie Jones isn’t going to change, if he’s not going to be removed as head coach, then he needs to bring in some fresh faces on both the playing side and the coaching side.
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“You can argue the team needs freshening up in terms of selection. England have gone backwards over the last six months and he needs to address that, he’s the head coach.”
Former red rose wing Ugo Monye described it as “perhaps the end of an era for this squad” and has called for a “brand new philosophy” to be introduced.
Sir Clive Woodward insists Jones must face a vigorous Rugby Football Union inquest after the Six Nations exposed “something very wrong” with England.
Woodward, the architect of the nation’s 2003 World Cup triumph, believes an impressive round-four victory over France has been the only interruption to a period of ongoing decline since Japan 2019.
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'At the end of the day, Eddie can’t play the game for us.'https://t.co/lNssNiO7bP
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 21, 2021
“It’s time for Eddie Jones to look in the mirror, not the window,” Woodward said in his column in the Mail on Sunday.
“Somebody at the RFU – although I’m not sure who is qualified to do so – needs to ask some sharp questions of him. There is no respected rugby ‘brain’ asking the difficult questions.
“I would like to say I was surprised but deep down I’m not. I had hoped last week was a fresh start but there is something very wrong at present.
“The graph has been going steadily downwards since that World Cup semi-final win over New Zealand with just an occasional blip or pulse of hope.”
'Everyone got so carried away with that New Zealand [semi-final] game… Eddie needs to look in the mirror and that’s the only person you’ve got to blame.'https://t.co/bEJ9ozDwcl
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 20, 2021
Former England scrum-half Matt Dawson echoes Woodward’s view that not all is well in the camp and also urged Jones to stop looking for excuses.
“Look what they did to France when they beat them in the fourth round and look what France are doing generally. England are at that level,” Dawson told BBC Sport.
“They are up with Wales and France so it is unacceptable that they lost three games in the Six Nations.
REF WATCH: "The restart claimed by Maro Itoje at which Sinckler took an accidental finger to the eye saw outstanding Ireland’s Tadgh Beirne show a fabulous ability to use the laws to his advantage."
Paul Smith ???https://t.co/Lc6ASodEWa
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 21, 2021
“I know that head coach Eddie Jones will come up with excuses and say England cannot play like that every week.
“I think England have got to work it out themselves and it comes from the top. My concern is that it is not as joined up as we are all led to believe.”
