'Abject failure': Online England fans haven't taken kindly to the RFU verdict on Eddie Jones
The initial response among online England fans to the RFU decision to back Eddie Jones after their disappointing Guinness Six Nations has not been positive. After the RFU shared details of their post-tournament debrief on Tuesday, fans took to social media in droves to show their disapproval at the decision to support the Australian.
While Twitter has never been a platform for fence-sitting, it is clear to see which side of the fence the majority of online fans are on. The main area of contention for most seems to be that too many out-of-form players were consistently playing in during England’s fifth-place campaign, with accusations that Jones has his favourites who are more or less embedded in his squad.
The RFU addressed this issue to an extent in their Jones debrief, listing “player preparation and availability” as one of the specific factors that led to England’s dismal defence of their 2020 Six Nations title. It said: “Player preparation and availability – several players did not have enough game time going into the Six Nations.
“Conversely, a wider group were fatigued as a result of being the only country to have back-to-back seasons; resulting in players having no mental break from one season to the next. In addition, a handful of notable players were unavailable.”
However, those explanations were not enough for many. While t helps explain why some Saracens players (currently in the Greene King IPA Championship) were rusty, and even why some Gallagher Premiership players may have been underperforming as well, it didn’t explain why some in-form players across England were not picked.
Disastrous fifth-place Six Nations finish hasn't resulted in the England sack for Eddie Jones https://t.co/26UcKQu4WB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 20, 2021
Sam Simmonds’ name unsurprisingly cropped up online, as the Exeter Chiefs No8 became the poster boy for the squadron of in-form club players who were overlooked. That does come down to the personal preference of Jones, though, and the RFU did mention that “fixed squads prevented players coming in and out during the campaign as they would normally”.
Jones did suggest that change is afoot, which may please some disgruntled fans. He said: “During the Six Nations we were not up to our usual high standards and we recognise that. The debrief was a valuable process. We all learned a lot from the experience and most importantly we have identified actions to enable the team to move forward positively towards 2023.
“I’m looking forward to the summer tour which will provide a great opportunity to see more of our emerging talent and I’m confident our next team will come back stronger this autumn building up to a winning performance in the next Six Nations.”
https://twitter.com/DJBurges/status/1384493662080405507?s=20
“Fine margins”. Glad that review was comprehensive then. We were completely outplayed and have been poor for a while now.
— Mike Baker (@salesandsport) April 20, 2021
Come on who other than EJ has overall responsibility for:
• Coaching
• Player preparation
• Breakdown indiscipline
• Covid – the necessary stringent protocols, in some cases greater than other Unions.
• Squad transition— Graeme (@notthatGraeme) April 20, 2021
Same old Sarries team nothing changes, must be the only coach that plays on reputation rather than form, take Sam Simmons for instance….. what a load of bull
— roger nicholls (@exwafu) April 20, 2021
I wonder why picking players actually in form and playing regularly wasn’t a recommendation?
— Ed Barrett (@EdBarrett1710) April 20, 2021
Strange debrief that then. Abject failure and they’ve accepted this to be acceptable for all of the money he is paid to not have this happen
— Jamie Pemberton (@pembyfly) April 20, 2021
“We’ll learn/take lessons/grow* from this, bla bla bla”
*delete as applicable
Weak.
— Alister FULTON (@baldybeardyguy) April 20, 2021
If Eddie is willing to evolve and pick players based on form it’s good news. If he isn’t and continues to pick the same old names regardless of how well they’re playing its another year wasted before the next World Cup. #England #Englandrugby #RFU
— Steve (@Romanez) April 20, 2021
All the Covid and player loading issues were the same for other players/nations. Why was it a surprise that players were not match fit – surely training performance data would have shown that – was this data ignored?
— Michael Green (@mikegreen_539) April 20, 2021
I hope you told him that there are other great players in the Premiership and it is time to ditch his favourites.
— MEG ???? (@MEGpersistence) April 20, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Also, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
39 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
23 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
39 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
39 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
4 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to commentsGood article, I learnt quite a lot. A big sliding door moment was in the mid 00s when they rejected Steve Anderson's long term transformation and he wrote Ireland's strategy instead.
2 Go to comments