Sir Clive Woodward claims Rugby Australia were WRONG to hire Eddie Jones and believes bosses were ‘hoodwinked’ by the Wallabies coach… as England legend pinpoints why it all went wrong at the Rugby World Cup

Sir Clive Woodward has launched a scathing review of Eddie Jones’ performance as Wallabies coach, claiming Rugby Australia was ‘misled’ by the 58-year-old.

Jones replaced Dave Rennie as head coach nine months before the Rugby World Cup in France but oversaw a dreadful campaign in which they crashed out of the pool stage.

The former England manager has urged patience with his new side as he eyes a strong tilt at the tournament in four years’ time, which will be staged on home soil, with the British and Irish Lions visiting in 2025.

But Woodward, who won the World Cup with England in Sydney 20 years ago, believes that is a pointless argument.

“I think that when you become an international coach, it’s about today, it’s not four years. It’s a good job if you can take it, going around convincing people that it’s not about today,” Woodward said. Sydney Morning Herald.

Sir Clive Woodward has claimed that Eddie Jones has ‘killed his head’ at Rugby Australia

The Wallabies were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup after a dismal campaign

“You’re coaching the team and if you get beat by 50 points, that’s where you are today. I think it’s a cop out. The minute you talk about a development team, you’re not going to win, so why are you even on tour? You have to compete, so you have to send the best team you have today. If you start saying you’re developing for the future, it’s the wrong thing to do and it’s the wrong thing for the country.

“When I pick a team, I can tell almost without exception that this is the strongest team to play for England this weekend. And the players loved it. There was no development, leave it to the schoolboys and under-21s and ‘A’ teams. I think that’s your job.

‘The problem is that administrators come in and they are fooled by all these things. They don’t really understand sport, they come from a business background and they are successful people and they get fooled by people like Eddie Jones who start talking about the Lions tour and 2027.

“The moment he does that, he not only loses it with the public, but also with the team. Because you can’t talk about a development team. It’s not about that.

“I don’t blame Eddie for that. If he can get away with it, good for him. But I blame the guys at the top because they’ve just been duped.’

Woodward added that the timing of Rennie’s sacking was wrong and pinpointed the moment his relationship with Jones broke down.

‘I just couldn’t believe it. “I saw that game against the All Blacks when they should have beaten them, and it was that ridiculous (referee) decision in the last seconds,” he said.

Woodward (left) believes Wallabies bosses (pictured right: Hamish McLennan) were duped

Woodward also criticized the idea that Jones is developing a team for 2027

“They were doing well, and to change your coach before the World Cup… I don’t know why that happened. I think it was a big mistake.

“When we started to fall out, it was the final of the World Cup (2019). They played a great game (semi-final) against the All Blacks, but that final was a complete lackluster. I don’t think Jones ever recovered from that. It was such a massive disappointment; he has never been the same coach since.

“When he started coaching England, we went down so quickly after 2019 that they should have dropped him after two years, the team was all over the place. That’s not his fault, it was the people at the top of the game. But there was nobody at Twickenham who was qualified to say ‘this guy has to go’. In the end he stayed too long’.