Former England and Lions winger Ugo Monye has severely criticised a statement released by the RFU, regarding the position of under-fire head coach Eddie Jones
The statement gave its full backing to Jones, despite a poor Six Nations, and were adamant that progress had been made in this year’s tournament.
Speaking on the BBC’s Rugby Union Daily Podcast, Monye was in disbelief over the RFU’s words and let his feelings known in no uncertain terms.
“Who in the eyes of the RFU thinks that signifies progress, and that they’re happy with how things are at the moment.
“Fundamentally it’s just dishonest. There isn’t progress, two out of five last year was an underperformance, hence why we had to have this deep dive review, which questioned absolutely everything, they wanted a greater sense of clarity over the direction and the style of play and everything that goes with it.
“Then this year to say that they’re happy with the progress when the table says there is no progress. There is no progress in the table, we have won two out of five, we have mirrored last year’s, so where is the progress?”
"Where's the progress?" 🤷♂️
England's Rugby Football Union says it "continues to fully support" head coach Eddie Jones after the side's disappointing #SixNations campaign.@ugomonye reacts to the statement released earlier today 👇#bbcrugby— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) March 20, 2022
His co-pundits Sam Warburton, John Barclay, and Chris Jones were in agreement with Monye, and cited England’s lack of tries in this year’s Six Nations as a major cause for concern.
Outside of their match against Italy, the English only managed three tries across the entire Six Nations.
Following two Six Nations in a row with only two wins, a certain section of fans have been questioning whether Jones is the right man to lead their side into next year’s World Cup.
However, given Jones’ record as England coach, which includes three Six Nations titles, and a World Cup final appearance, it would be a strange, risky, and expensive move to sack him 18 months out from a World Cup.
You can the full RFU statement below:
“Eddie is building a new England team and against a clear strategy, we are encouraged by the solid progress the team has made during this Six Nations campaign.
“Eddie and his team of coaches and players will conduct a full review as is normal after each tournament. The RFU advisory panel, which consists of board and executive members, former players and coaches along with Eddie, will also undertake a debrief to discuss the strong positive steps forward during this campaign and the areas we need to address.
“The advisory group has been in place since 2019 and it meets regularly both during and after each tournament to evaluate clear targets and progression. The RFU continues to fully support Eddie, the coaching team and players and we are excited about the summer tour and the progress to rebuild a winning England team.”
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