England’s reaction to Six Nations failure has been tone deaf to how the fans are feeling. It is almost wilfully ignorant.
Eddie Jones immediately trying to switch the focus from a losing campaign to the summer tour of Australia, telling us not to worry all will be rosy come the World Cup, is one thing.
But for the Rugby Football Union, custodians of English rugby, to blindly back him - citing “solid progress” and “strong positive steps” - is unacceptable.
Telling people not to believe their own eyes is not on. The rugby public pays a lot of money to go to Twickenham, to follow England and to support the RFU. They deserve better.
England have lost six of their last 10 matches in the Six Nations and this year beat only Italy and the one team that Italy beat. There is nothing solid about that progress.
I don’t think for a second the RFU are thinking about making a change, approaching say Rassie Erasmus and asking him to do for them what he did for South Africa in 18 months before they beat England in the last final.
I wouldn’t have a problem with that if Jones’ performance was being properly reviewed, if he was under any sort of meaningful scrutiny.
There appears to be none and if I’m wrong about that why on earth is the paying public not told about it?
What we have instead is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. Smoke and mirrors. Look in the opposite direction, everything’s alright.
It is clearly not alright. The Italy game aside England scored three tries and conceded 12. They finished 15 points behind France, 11 outside a top-two finish.
I don’t see why everything needs to be quite so cloak and dagger as that only makes people question more.
Without clarity, if there’s no openness, people start to make up their own minds. And that’s when you get into a situation where it becomes slightly toxic.
It is all so avoidable. Twickenham just needed to acknowledge the nation’s disappointment, pledge an open and honest review and then, and only then, pass judgement.
Instead, they jumped the gun with that ‘nothing to see here’ statement.
It feels like being tapped on the head and told ‘we know what we’re doing, just sit down and be quiet’. And that really is not good enough.
PAUL GRAYSON: HOW THE NATIONS RATED
France (W5 L0, 1st, Grand Slam) - 8.5 out of 10
Lived up to the hype. Embraced favourite’s tag. Fantastic tournament as they were genuinely nervous in the big moments but found a way to win. Have some genuine world class players in their XV.
Ireland (W4 L1, Runners-up, Triple Crown) — 7/10
Will be disappointed they couldn’t find a way to beat France yet happy they have yet to peak. Usually trapped in a cycle of being really good two years out then going downhill at World Cup. This time could well be different.
England (W2 L3, 3rd) - 5/10
Were keen to paint themselves as the underdog from the start, which is a defensive position and an equally defensive statement. Smith, Steward and Genge individual pluses. Not too much else to be excited about.
Scotland (W2 L3, 4th) - 4/10
A standard Scotland Six Nations. Plenty of good chat beforehand after 2021 wins in England and France. Start well then one by one the wheels fall off, culminating in senior players breaking a curfew. Much work to do on and off the field.
Wales (W2 L3, 5th) - 5/10
Can’t ignore that they lost at home to Italy. Somebody forgot to tell them they still had a job to do. Losing that game puts massive pressure on everybody. Inexcusable, particularly after how hard they pushed France.
Italy (W1, L4, 6th) - 6/10
Infuriating before Wales, but so much credit earned with first championship win since 2015 and a notable away one at that. Absolute worldie of a winning try to cap it off. Must be a springboard to better going forward.
