England players 'more focused on money'
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A number of England's World Cup players were "more focused on money than getting the rugby right", it was reported today in three leaked reports that lay bare the inside story behind the shambles in New Zealand.
The Times today published details of the confidential reports compiled by the English Rugby Football Union, the Rugby Players' Association, who surveyed players anonymously, and the Aviva Premiership clubs.
As well as a number of players concerned about money, the coaching regime also came in for strong criticism.
England were eventually beaten by France in the quarter-finals, equalling their worst ever performance in a World Cup after a campaign dogged by controversy.
Team manager Martin Johnson is reportedly criticised for failing to instil discipline following a series of off-field incidents, with one unnamed player quoted as saying "he was too loyal and that was his downfall".
Captain Lewis Moody is criticised for reportedly leading a delegation of senior players to dispute the amount of money the squad were being paid for playing at the World Cup.
The Times quoted RFU director of elite rugby Rob Andrew's report as saying: "It was very disappointing that a senior group, led by the captain Lewis Moody, disputed the level of payment for the World Cup squad.
"It led to meetings with RFU executives in the last few weeks before departing for NZ. This led to further unsettling of the squad.
"Some of the senior players were more focused on money rather than getting the rugby right."
The reports leaked to The Times were never intended to be published. The Professional Game Board, which runs elite rugby in England, are due to make recommendations based on the reports' conclusions to the RFU board on 30 November.
England's World Cup was dogged by incident from the start, with widespread media coverage of a players' night out following a meagre win over Argentina in their opening match.
Mike Tindall, who is married to Zara Phillips, was pictured talking to a woman on CCTV footage from Altitude Bar, which was holding a "Mad Midget Weekender" and was one of a number of squad members who appeared to have drank excessively.
His actions later incurred a £25,000 fine and saw him dismissed from the elite player squad - sanctions the centre has appealed.
Next, the RFU felt compelled to suspend assistant coach Dave Alred and fitness coach Paul Stridgeon from the match against Scotland after the pair were found to have illegally changed balls during the victory against Romania.
Johnson was later forced to express his anger at Chris Ashton and James Haskell for their conduct towards a hotel maid - for which the pair were fined £5,000 at the end of the tournament.
Manu Tuilagi, one of the few on-field successes, was another to find trouble, receiving two fines during his time in New Zealand - the first for wearing a sponsored mouthguard and the second for diving off a harboured ferry in Auckland.
Although no immediate decisions were taken in the aftermath of the team's exit at the hands of France, Johnson announced his decision to step down as manager on 16 November, giving a press conference in which he took responsibility for the team's efforts.
Professional Game Board chairman Ian Metcalfe said: "It is disappointing and frustrating that confidential reports submitted to the PGB have been put into the public domain when all involved were promised that their views would remain private for the ultimate goal of improving the England team.
"The reporting of selective elements of those documents is also counter-productive to that aim.
"There will naturally be a wide range of views surrounding the Rugby World Cup and the PGB review was set up to take into account all feedback from all parties. 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."
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Oh ye pure pride and passion for the wilted rose right there. A lot to be ashamed of here. Its going to be a long few months to the 6 nations and a very very long 6 nations for England.
Now that we know money is the main interest of a Modern England player can we also assume that the non English mercenaries brought in to the side in recent times, really and truly dont care what colour the jersey is but are more concerned with the colour of the paper handed over with them?
RFU WC report leaked!
posted on 24/11/11
Hi there chaps, got to say this is very disappointing. Obviously the media have focussed on this as if it were the only issue, for me there are more serious things in the "leak" in particular allusions to an almost complete breakdown between players and staff.
This clearly should have been forseen and needs to be looked into more than the money bit that, whilst disappointing, is in my view less critical
posted on 24/11/11
SARS
Ye mate, more and more is coming out.
Today the poo is really hitting the fan. Things like
Senior players laughing and making fun of Junior players because the junior players were taking training seriously.
Or a senior player saying to one of the new players after the loss to France. "well there is 35 grand gone down the toilet"
There is a lot more and its starting to look very ugly.
posted on 24/11/11
Yeah, whilst the money thing is disappointing and more sensationalist I'm not that worried about it, what concerns me more is what you might call "the rot".
At the end of the day its a results business and I want to see England win, if things are happening that stop that, these are the things to go at first. The question is where does it all come from and hwo far does it go down - if its something that dies with the Tindall / Moody generation of players then its not a problem, if its something that has spread to the Ashton / Foden generation then hard work needs to be done and very very fast.
A lot of players are capable of behaving like idiots - the likes of Powell and Cipriani come to mind, but my concern here is there might - as hinted - be an element that is institutionalised and much harder for the successor to Johnson (as if he didn't have enough on his plate) to weed out.
I also meant to add - good work DBM for keeping these boards alive!
posted on 24/11/11
Mmmm fair point indeed. But you know i think its relatively simple to point the finger at the RFU. At the end of the day they are the ones in-charge and the book stops with them. tindall and co acted like idiots in NZ but MJ defended them by say "rugby player drinks beer! Shocker!" hahaha i know he took alot of flak for that remark but to be fair he was right.
Its up top that has the problem, the other 2 managers before MJ failed also. But the RFU would be happy to allow people to blame MJ and gloss over the fact that they have failed for years before MJ was appointed.
RFU.... they are pathetic, not England rugby. Just the boys who run it. But what can be done about it? cant fire all of them.
A prediction for you mate.
They are going to throw Rob Andrew to the wolves, and it will work. People will buy it and move on.
posted on 24/11/11
My first comment on here was in fact a day out, after listening to what Rob Andrew has had to say (twice) the man is fully in denial of the whole wonderful, i mean rotten saga
He is not going to do the honourable thing and go, he will have to be given a vote of no confidence or something similar by the ERU He is looking for a big compensation package, as this weasel wants to be sacked and take the money and run.
posted on 24/11/11
I also now believe that Martin Johnson was given the heads up on this story, shown what it contained and was given enough time to mull it over and then we hear about this news conference, with him stepping down as the head coach of England.
posted on 24/11/11
dirty
ERU man you got to let that one go... it makes no sense mate
You know mate as a player i hated but respected MJ
As a manager i grew to like him but disrespect him as a manager (if that makes any sense)
Like you say tho, Rob will not step down until thrown out and with compensation, Where MJ left with dignity.
Stewart Barns, whom i rarely agree with has been saying he thinks MJ was parachuted in to the manager role and literally given no support. Now that is criminal from the RFU and stupid in point of fact MJ done exceptionally well considering he had absolutely no experience coaching or managing at any level ever.
MJ effectively was the manager and the head coach in one. No other top tier nation operates like that. All top teams have a manager, and a head coach, the job of the manager is to manage the coaches and in turn they manage the players.
And its the Job of the RFU to select the right man for the manager job, and then support him fully. So they let MJ do what he wanted and he just didn't know how to do the job.
But they the RFU made the mistake.
Rob Andrew should have been fired along lime ago, but hes not the only one in the RFU, hes just the fool in the middle and the boys above are equally to blame... in fact they shoulder even more responsibility in my view.
posted on 25/11/11
Let it go, never
Same with me, i hated MJ the player, but at the same time totally respected him, he was a leader of men and unfortunately i watched Wales get beat too many times with MJ as captain.
posted on 28/11/11
Perhaps the irony is, for all this apparent "disarray" England still haven't done too bad - World Cup quarter final, 6 nations win. There's a huge amount of potential to go further still if handled in the right way.
No-one seems to have mentioned it - though there's not many on here - but for me the change to professionalism, and how it has been handled in different countries, is a huge factor in whats currently going on
posted on 29/11/11
SARS
Quite correct mate.
TO be brutally honest with you here are my thoughts on the last 8 years of English Rugby.
They have been very bad since they won the WC. the RFU is a boys club for egotistical old men who refuse to live in the present.
2 good managers failed before MJ failed so the balme can't be levelled at MJ's door tho he does have to accept part of it.
A 6 nations win this year was a fantastic result for them and unexpected given there poor form over the years preceding it, and a semi final place in the the WC was perfectly representative of their place in world rugby at this moment in time.
TO be frank and honest i find it a little arrogant that they have such high expectations based on noting substantial, and nothing achieved in 8 years until the recent 6 nations. And not forgetting that France were up to all sorts of silliness in the past 6 nations so were not playing to there potential, wales were off the pace with one eye on the WC equally true for Ireland Who were totally focused on the WC and implementing a new system of play, while scotland and italy are not good enough.
All things considered England won a not very contested 6 nations, and finished in a respectable position in the WC which reflects exactly where they stand in world rugby.
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The contracts being a factor, well yes. one contract from the club and another contract from the RFU means there is a bidding system creating greed and removing the honour of playing for your country. As highlight by the leaked report.