On The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, Sweeney said: “I spoke to a number [of players], Conor [O’Shea, the RFU’s director of performance rugby] spoke to a number. The conversations I had, without naming players because I don’t think it would be fair or reasonable to do that, were disappointed in terms of the decision of Eddie going but [had] a real understanding and support for the decision being made.
“The ones that I spoke to said, ‘look we’re disappointed for Eddie, we like Eddie but we understand why the decision was taken’ and without naming players said, ‘we think it’s the right decision’. In terms of changing what needed to be changed to go into 2023 in a stronger position.
“One of them said to me, ‘I was misquoted in the media because what I said was I was disappointed for Eddie but I wasn’t disappointed in the RFU decision, but that was reported as I’m disappointed in the decision’. So the ones I spoke to got the overall situation.”
Expanding on the decision to sack Jones and replace him with Steve Borthwick, Sweeney denied the chorus of boos that rang around Twickenham after the dismal defeat by South Africa in November was behind the decision. He said: “Some things weren’t quite clicking, weren’t working the way we all thought they were going to work, probably the way Eddie thought they were going to work.
