10 October 2023 , 18:00
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England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning coach Sir Clive Woodward has again taken aim at Eddie Jones and suggested Australia have been "hoodwinked" by him.
Australia crashed out of this year's World Cup in the group stage for the first time in their history, having suffered a shock 22-15 defeat to Fiji and a crushing 40-6 loss against Wales. And Jones, who returned as Australia's head coach in January after England sacked him, has come under fire as a result.
He controversially axed veteran stars Michael Hooper and Quade Cooper on the eve of the tournament, selecting a largely inexperienced squad with one eye on the future. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Jones insisted: "In the end, I do think it was the right thing to do.
"The advantage with this squad is that it still has five or six years of growth in it. That will set Australia up well for the Lions series in 2025 and for the 2027 World Cup." However, Woodward has branded Jones' comments a "cop-out" and taken aim at his bosses for getting "hoodwinked" by him.
"I think when you become an international coach, it is about today, it's not four years time," Woodward told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It's a good job if you can get it, going around persuading people it's not about today. You are coaching the team and if you get beaten by 50 points, that's where you are today.
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"I think it is a cop-out. The moment you talk about a development team, you're not going to win, so why are you are even in the tournament? You should be competing, so you should be sending the best team you have today.
"If you start saying you're developing for the future, it's the wrong thing to do and it's the wrong thing for the country. When I picked a team, almost without exception I could say to everyone this is the strongest team to play for England this weekend. And the players loved that.
Former England coach Sir Clive Woodward believes Australia have been "hoodwinked" by Jones after they crashed out of the Rugby World Cup (Getty Images)"There was no development, leave that to schoolboy teams and under-21 teams and the 'A' teams. I think that's your job. The problem is administrators come in and they get hoodwinked by all this stuff.
"They don't really understand the sport, they come in with a business background and are successful people and they get hoodwinked by people like Eddie Jones, who start talking about the Lions tour and 2027. The moment you do that, you not only lose it with the public, you lose it with the team.
"Because you can't talk about a development team. It's not about that. I don't blame Eddie for that. If he can get away with it, good on him. But I do blame the guys in charge, because they've just been hoodwinked."