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Clive Woodward Worried About England Under Eddie Jones After Ireland Loss

Clive Woodward Worried About England Under Eddie Jones After Ireland Loss
Gary Connaughton
By Gary Connaughton
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Ireland have hardly been at their best in this year's Six Nations, but they certainly came alive for this evening's clash with England.

While Eddie Jones' side have also shown some mixed form in recent weeks, they looked excellent against France last time out and it was expected that they would overpower the Irish on this occasion.

That was far from the case, with Ireland superior in every aspect of the contest. They dominated the breakdown, were far more powerful in the scrum, and even looked more inventive in attack. It was a blueprint for how they can play under Andy Farrell going forward.

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As for England, there are now serious questions about their future under their current head coach.

They may have won last year's Six Nations, but even then they were far from their best. In fact you might have to go back to the 2019 World Cup before you find a quality English performance according to one expert onlooker.

Speaking on ITV, former World Cup winning coach Clive Woodward said that England have failed to perform ever since their victory over New Zealand in Japan, believing that Eddie Jones must take responsibility for that.

I think from our personal view, this has been coming since the World Cup final. I still don't think there was a real proper debrief since England lost to South Africa.

Everyone was so carried away with the New Zealand game (in the semi-final), a no show in the World Cup final has never really been taken apart, what actually happened, what's gone on?

I've just got the feeling that Eddie and the team thought 'we're a youngish team, we're probably going to go on in four years time and win it'. That's a massive mistake.

International rugby is game, by game, by game. The moment you see your game not going properly well, I think you've got to make changes.

Not to your coach, but I don't think that team is past its shelf life because there's a lot of very good young players in there like [Maro] Itoje and these guys.

I just don't think we've refreshed team. I don't think England have played well since that game in the semi-final.

Eddie [Jones] is the coach, this is the time he's got to look in the mirror and that's the only person you're going to blame, you're in charge and the leader. You've got to look in the mirror, you don't look through the window and blame other people, the press and media.

You've got to look in the mirror and say 'we are where we are, we're going to start again now'. We're still two years from the World Cup.

Ireland were fantastic, make no bones about it, but that did not reflect English rugby in terms of some of the talent we've got.

All is certainly not well in the England camp, with major changes looking to be on the horizon.

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