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'Soul-destroying': Former England player takes to social media to blast current team

By Sam Smith
Owen Farrell (Photo by Alex Davidson - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Former World Cup-winning England centre Will Greenwood has shared an honest, emotional message on social media with regard to the state of the current national side.

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England slumped to a 27-13 loss to South Africa at Twickenham to end their Autumn campaign which Greenwood called the most ‘soul-destroying’ game he has attended at the home of England Rugby.

The 55-Test international didn’t hold back in his assessment of how England played, claiming they were ‘scared of their shadows’ in a performance that many have labelled an abject failure.

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“That was one of the most soul-destroying, demoralising, games of rugby I think I’ve ever been to at Twickenham,” Greenwood said in video published online.

“The side look completely devoid and shot of ideas. Scared of it’s own shadow, beaten up, out-played, out-muscled, out-thought.

“This year, played 13 and won five. Scotland win the Calcutta Cup every time they play us.”

As head coach Eddie Jones continued to look for the positives out of the loss, claiming England are heading in the right direction, Greenwood wasn’t buying the rhetoric.

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The former centre knows what it takes to build into a successful World Cup campaign, having been an integral part of England’s 2003 World Cup win.

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After hitting rock bottom in 1998 on a Southern Hemisphere tour where they were smashed 76-0 by Australia, by 2000 they were Six Nations champions and repeated in 2001.

In 2003 they captured a Grand Slam before going on to win the Rugby World Cup later that year. The signs of improvement were visible after the 1999 World Cup quarter-final exit.

“You can get caught up in the ‘building World Cup, building World Cup’ evolution and development. If that was happening, and we were playing and getting beaten 47-45 you’d sort of go, ‘yeah well done’,” Greenwood explained.

“But all I know right now is it is tough, tough to defend.”

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Greenwood’s sentiment was shared by former players and pundits alike, with Jeremy Guscott calling for a ‘serious reboot’ after the dismal Autumn campaign.

The RFU announced a review will be undertaken with a ‘series of meetings’ but that wasn’t enough to appease rugby writer Stephen Jones who called the action ‘pathetic’.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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