Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones explains who MUST be sacked over the Eddie Jones disaster: ‘He has no idea about the game’
Alan Jones has called on Hamish McLennan to leave Rugby Australia, reflecting on the Wallabies’ plight following the Eddie Jones disaster.
The 63-year-old compared coaching Australia to “eating shit” as he left his role as head coach just ten months after taking over following the team’s dreadful Rugby World Cup.
The failed Jones experiment has put the Wallabies “back to square one” according to Mail Sport columnist Sir Clive Woodward. The England legend was extremely critical of the board’s decision to sack Dave Rennie in the first place.
And now former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has echoed those views, claiming the blame for the debacle lies squarely with McLennan.
Following Jones’ announcement, he said on Facebook: “So Eddie Jones is gone, he’s been thrown under the bus by the person who, without doing any homework, made a ‘captain’s pick’ to choose Jones in the first place .”
Former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has hit Rugby Australia with scathing criticism
Australian rugby is in turmoil after Eddie Jones quit the national team on Sunday
“That person is McLennan, the chairman of Rugby Australia, who should be the first to go.”
“Because it was unfashionable, I was almost the only one who warned that something like this would happen.” McLennan is the architect of all this.
“Coaching Australia is a prestigious job. There was never any advertising. “McLennan has no knowledge of the game and has not been previously involved in it.”
He added that Eddie Jones’ departure was an opportunity for rugby bosses to start fresh and called for knowledgeable people to take the lead.
“McLennan has to go,” he said.
“The position of coach for Australia should then be advertised and a committee with coaching expertise should be appointed to review the applicants.”
“What the rugby family doesn’t know is that the board of Rugby Australia has very little knowledge of rugby.”
Alan Jones insists the blame for the disaster lies entirely with Hamish McLennan
“McLennan does what he wants.” We have now seen what came of it. We don’t have a player problem, but a huge administrative chaos.
“Jones is outside. McLennan and most of the board should follow him. You own this problem. You have clarified the problem.
“Jones is just the symptom.” “Rugby’s disease is at the top.”
McLennan has insisted he will not give up despite the growing pressure on his shoulders.
“Now is the time to fix the rugby system once and for all,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. “I’ve been saying for three years that we need to centralize and improve the constitution.”
“NSW and other states are all joining centralization and we will improve the job structure for the first time in 30 years. “We are now in Australia’s World Cup cycle. Let us not bat an eyelid when the necessary reforms are implemented.
“We have made incredible progress on a number of other fronts, including profit [hosting rights to the] “Men’s and Women’s World Cups in 2027 and 2029. They will bring over $2.5 billion to the Australian economy and we can’t screw them up.”