02 September 2023 , 15:57
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Danny Cipriani has slammed Eddie Jones' attack on the RFU as an "unbelievable cop out" from the former England boss.
The Australian, who was sacked by England at the back end of last year, had been in charge since 2015, winning numerous Six Nations titles and recording a record-equalling winning sequence in international rugby. Following the 2019 World Cup though England began to plateau.
Their Six Nations performances tailed off, although there has been little to no improvement following Jones' dismissal. Steve Borthwick's side are now going into the World Cup with little optimism.
Jones has questioned why there is a lack of talent coming through into the England set-up, citing it as a key issue. And Jones believes it is the job of the country's governing body to ensure young talent is able to step up.
He told the BBC: "You’ve got an ageing team … They’re not producing quality players. Everyone looks at the head coach, and wants to blame the head coach. But the onus on producing quality players is the RFU, and that hasn’t happened. When you’re not bringing talent through, you’ve got to look at why your talent development system’s not doing that … The system’s not right.
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"Whenever you’ve got talent not coming through, and it was coming through … What needs to change? Where’s the gap? That’s the responsibility of the RFU, and it’s not for me to give them answers.”
Jones went on to say: "You've got new players coming in, some have done really well like a Freddie Steward. Others are still finding their feet like a Marcus Smith. You just have to look at England's U20 over the last five years, they're not producing quality players."
Danny Cipriani was less than impressed with Eddie Jones' commentsSteward and Smith were both given their England debuts by Jones, whose selection policy was questioned as the Australian, now back in charge of his homeland, picked a variety of players in the latter years of his tenure. Cipriani, who made his debut back in 2008, believes Jones too must take responsibility for the decline.
The former Wasps and Sale star said on social media: "What an unbelievable cop out. Once again… As the head coach of England you set the standard to follow, not by winning, by being a leader people look up to or admire, being accountable and inspiring a nation through your vision," said the former England fly-half.
"Not by belittling employees, running through staff, having a limited understanding of the game and getting hired because the RFU don’t know what they are looking for hence why they employed Eddie.
"RFU have a huge role to play but Eddie passing the buck is not news…"