Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones pinpoints who HAS TO be sacked over the Eddie Jones disaster: ‘He has no knowledge of the game’
Alan Jones has called on Hamish McLennan to quit Rugby Australia in a damning overview of the Wallabies’ plight following the Eddie Jones disaster.
The 63-year-old likened coaching Australia to “eating s***” as he quit his role as head coach just 10 months after taking the job following the team’s dire Rugby World Cup campaign.
The failed Jones experiment has taken the Wallabies ‘back to square one’ according to Mail Sport columnist Sir Clive Woodward, the England legend who was hugely critical of the board’s decision to sack Dave Rennie in the first place.
And now former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has echoed those sentiments, claiming the blame for the debacle lies firmly with McLennan.
He said on Facebook after Jones’ announcement: “So Eddie Jones is gone, thrown under the bus by the person who, without doing any homework, created a ‘Captain’s Pick’ to pick Jones in the first place.”
Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has hit Rugby Australia with scathing criticism
Australian rugby is in disarray after Eddie Jones quit the national team on Sunday
“That person is McLennan, the chairman of Rugby Australia, who has to go first.
‘I almost only warned, because it was out of fashion, that this would happen. McLennan is the architect of it all.
‘Coaching in Australia is a prestigious job. It was never advertised. McLennan has no knowledge of the game and has not been involved in the game before.”
He added that Eddie Jones’ departure presents an opportunity for rugby bosses to start from scratch and called for expert figures to take over.
“McLennan has got to go,” he said.
“Then the Australia coaching job should be advertised and a panel with coaching expertise appointed to assess the applicants.
‘What the rugby family doesn’t know is that the Rugby Australia board has almost no rugby knowledge.
Alan Jones insists the blame for the disaster lies solely with Hamish McLennan
‘McLennan does what he wants. We have now seen what that has achieved. We don’t have a ‘player problem’, we have a huge administrative mess.
“Jones is out the door. He should be followed by McLennan and most of the board. They own this problem. They signed the issue.
“Jones is just the symptom. The rugby disease is at the top.’
McLennan has insisted he will not quit despite mounting pressure on his shoulders.
“Now is the time to fix the rugby system once and for all,” he told the newspaper Sydney Morning Herald. ‘I have been saying for three years that we must centralize and fix the constitution.
“NSW and other states are all on board with centralisation, and for the first time in 30 years we will be putting the professional structure in order. We are now in Australia’s World Cup cycle. Let us not blink when the necessary reforms are implemented.
‘We have made incredible progress on a number of other fronts, including winning the (hosting rights for) the Men’s and Women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2029. They will generate more than $2.5 billion for the Australian economy, and we can don’t screw it up. them up.’