Squad divisions blamed for England’s rugby failure

England exited the tournament at the quarter final stage for the first time since 1999 after a campaign that made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

The failure of England’s World Cup forced coach Martin Johnson to step down and prompted the Rugby Football Union to seek feedback about the campaign’s failure from those involved with the squad.

But an article in the Times has published quotes from leaked documents associated with this review which was due to report back on 30th November.

It revealed a stand-off between the RFU and senior players who threatened to boycott the pre-World Cup dinner in London unless they could secure guarantees about commercial activities.

Captain Lewis Moody was criticised by Rob Andrew, the RFU’s director of elite rugby, for his role in this dispute which he said led to an unsettling of the squad just before departure.

“It is very disappointing that a senior group led by the captain Lewis Moody disputed the level of payment for the World Cup squad,” said Mr Andrew. “It suggested that some of the senior players were more focused on money than getting the rugby right.”

And after being knocked out by France in the quarter-final, one player reported feeling “sick” after hearing another say: “There’s £35,000… down the toilet.”

“Surely we need to get the basics right, not be indulged in luxuries,”

The team’s preparations for the World Cup were also criticised in the reports seen by The Times. England stayed for ten weeks at the same five star Surrey hotel that had hosted them for pre tournament training before the 2003 and 2007 World Cups.

The players agreed that the Pennyhill Park in Bagshot was a “lovely” hotel but they said the training pitch was “full of rabbit holes and cuts up too easily”.

“Surely we need to get the basics right, not be indulged in luxuries,” one complained.

Some players felt that they would have been better prepared if they had trained at their clubs.

‘Too loyal’

Most players had wanted Martin Johnson to stay as team manager but felt he was let down by his coaches and his handling of vice-captain Mike Tindall’s indiscretions on a night out.

“We just wanted Johno to have b******s to take action,” one said. “He was too loyal and that was his downfall.”

Feedback from clubs suggested that the RFU’s appointment of leadership mentor Gerard Murphy undermined Mr Johnson’s strengths – his no-nonsense, hard working character.

Players told their clubs they felt Mr Murphy held Mr Johnson back from disciplining players effectively.

“The absence of MJ as a disciplinarian allowed a ‘loose’ culture to manifest itself within the squad,” the report said.

John Neal, director of Ashridge Business School, who has worked as a leadership mentor with the RFU and the Welsh Rugby Union, said that Mr Johnson was “doomed to failure” from the start.

“Martin Johnson was a good people leader but there is a huge shift involved in becoming a good sports leader.”

“He didn’t have any experience of leading players when you are not on the field with them. To become a good player it takes 12 years. To become a good coach it takes the same amount of time.

Mr Neal said the RFU, not Mr Johnson should be blamed for the world cup failure. He said that Rugby should look to English cricket for a successful model to rebuild the leadership sport.

“They have had their ups and downs but their leadership has been very astute. Now they are the number one team in the world.”

Individual coaches were also criticised including the attack coach Brian Smith, the defence coach Mike Ford and the kicking coach Dave Alred.

But the overall impression given by the quotes reported in the Times is disharmony in the squad between senior members who sneered at those that trained hard, and disillusioned less established players.

Many of the squad who are likely to be around at the 2015 world cup were reported to be “desperate to see a culture change and players’ behaviour changing for the better”.

The RFU has refused to confirm whether the the reported quotes are accurate, but it has released a statement in response to the Times article.

The RFU’s professional game board chairman, Ian Metcalfe, said it was “disappointing and frustrating” that confidential reports submitted to the board have been put into the public domain.

‘Balanced recommendations’

“All involved were promised that their views would remain private for the ultimate goal of improving the England team,” he said. “The reporting of selective elements of those documents is also counter-productive to that aim.”

He added: “There has been a clear process that has been followed which will culminate in fair and balanced recommendations to the RFU Board of Directors on November 30.”