In an explosive interview with the Telegraph, Mike Brown has said that he lost all trust in his England teammates. The constant drip-feed of leaks to the newspapers means that Brown finds it hard now to describe his fellow England players as teammates - at least until they meet up and the air is cleared.
There has been a story at the weekend which is absolutely ridiculous so the trust has gone now as far as I am concerned. I worked so hard to play in a World Cup and I am passionate about playing for England.
It is just difficult because we have not left it in a good place and it doesn’t help with all these people deciding to pipe up in the squad that probably shouldn’t be, probably anonymously.
Brown said that no England player did enough during the World Cup to earn the right to pipe up and point out the failings of other people. And if players are going to say something, they should put their name to the opinion.
It is going to be hard for me to call anyone team-mates until we meet up. Yes, it is going to be tough. Everything good is built on trust. Everything good at Harlequins is built on trust.
There is no trust (with England) now, as far as I am concerned. But it will all get sorted out with whoever is in charge or whoever is there. It will get sorted out, to move the team forwards, it always does in team environments.
Brown insists that England do not need a complete rebuild, and there are plenty of young players coming through.
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