The England RWC report leaked - "There's £35,000 just gone down the toilet"...!

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Not nice reading for any rugby fan of any nationality, lets hope this attitude is not prolific. These articles below capture the cynicism of modern professional sport at its worst.

Looks like the players and MJ were more to blame than Rob Andrew who apparently according to Stuart Barnes last weekend strongly advised against having MJ as coach.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/23/england-world-cup-fiasco-leaked-report

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/8907491/England-players-reveal-sharp-divisions-in-the-camp-during-dismal-World-Cup-campaign-in-New-Zealand.html

We can probably sell the tv rights and make millions.. When Rob Andrew gets his turn, you think he will wear a suit and tie?????

leinsterbaby wrote:I don't agree with you on Ashton. There is enough evidence now to suggest that he comes from the "because I'm worth it" loreal generation. Plus I feel Johnson against his better judgement wanted to appear not to be annoyed re the diving when a more experienced manager would have cut the bs out. That sh1t wouldn't fly in the Ireland camp.

The England camp need to restructure, get the right men in place and all bugger off to a hotel for a weekend for clear the air this time anonymous talks. Anyone who leaks stuff to the press should be keeled.

the media kept headlining with Johnson annoyed with dive etc but if you ever read it or listened to the interveiws he was annoyed with Ashton giving penalties away in rucks. Both Ashton and Johnson both said this is what the "bollocking" was for but the media wanted to focus on the dive. The most Johnson ever said on it was along the lines of "he better not drop it". I wouldn't be surprised if he had told Ashton that if he drops it he'll be dropped. Since it never happened we don't know if he did or would have followed through with it. Ashton has never come across anything other than humble in any interview I've ever seen, if a little checky here and there (certainly nothing bad).

With the likes of Mallinder, O'Shea (and many other good coaches/managers/motivators) floating around the Jeff and Dean Richards twiddling his thumbs somewhere, the RFU, no matter how much they mess things up, are only ever one/two appointments away from turning England into a powerhouse of a side.

Mind you they will probably manage to push out Rowntree and hold onto the rest of the backroom team....... PHEW!!

Christ. Quite an ugly thing seeing the sausages being made.

leinsterbaby wrote:I actually think Andrew is a bit of a sly dog to name Moody as the guy leading the pay renegotiations especially given the picture of greed it paints re Moody. I doubt he is like that. For all we know he may just have been representing a group of player that approached him because he was captain.

I think that issue stinks of Andrew trying to stick the boot in to save face. Lightning rod being a good analogy.

I read an article Ben Kay wrote about the report. Essentially, he felt that while Moody possibly shouldn't have been involved in the negotiations, the problem only arose because the RFU like to negotiate as late as possible, leaving players feeling unable to argue. Essentially, this is a failure on Rob Andrew's part.

That said, while I think Rob Andrew has been dishonourable in his deflection of blame, you have to say that did not he appoint Johnson or the coaches, nor did he select the team or devise their tactics. Rob Andrew may be part of the problem with English rugby, but he's far from the only problem.

Andrew did appoint the coaches. It was one of the first things he did wasn't it? While Robinson was in charge. Apparantly he gave Johnson the option to change them and he refused.

Wasn't it mentioned that Andrew hired a HR consultant to deal with discipline issues and he stopped Johnson from bollocking the players? Was that in the Times?

HammerofThunor wrote:Andrew did appoint the coaches. It was one of the first things he did wasn't it? While Robinson was in charge. Apparantly he gave Johnson the option to change them and he refused.

Wasn't it mentioned that Andrew hired a HR consultant to deal with discipline issues and he stopped Johnson from bollocking the players? Was that in the Times?

I thought that Andrew wanted to keep Ashton on, but Johnson was appointed by the RFU board. I'm fully prepared to be corrected on that, however. Of course, one could easily argue that Andrew should have been more prepared to fight his corner.

I think squeaky should be the prime suspect in the leak.

3 seperate reports from 3 seperate review bodies... the only time that they would have all been in the same room together is when they landed on Squeakys desk.

I think we need to give credit where credit is due. Andrew sits there with the winds of criticism howling about him, calm, serene, and non-plussed. Absolutely amazing man. A tower of strength. Worthy of respect........or not.

jbeadlesbigrighthand, he did. But he also appointed Wells and Ford.

I don't particularly want to defend RA, but he was appointed in August 2006 and Wells & Ford were appointed in May of the same year.

So, we're all agreed then? Rob Andrew's doing a fantastic job, and is in no way to blame for the failings of the senior England team, which represents, lest we forget, just 20% of his role.

I didn't realise anyone actually knew what his role was.

niwatts wrote:I don't particularly want to defend RA, but he was appointed in August 2006 and Wells & Ford were appointed in May of the same year.

Sorry, my bad

Some good snippets here;

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/1124/1224308049926.html