"We are all, as an organisation, incredibly disappointed. You'd expect more. There is a great deal of frustration and disappointment, we understand why the fans are expecting more. We do feel we're on a path to the right direction. It's a very tight-knit squad" - RFU CEO Bill Sweeney
Thursday 24 March 2022 16:16, UK
Bill Sweeney, RFU CEO, has admitted the RFU is "incredibly disappointed" by England's latest Six Nations showing under Eddie Jones, saying he understands fans expecting more.
England lost three of their five fixtures for a second championship campaign in a row, falling to defeat in 2022 away to Scotland and France and at home to Ireland.
Such results left them third in the Six Nations standings by points difference, but some 11 points behind second-placed Ireland. In 2021, defeats at home to Scotland and away to Wales and Ireland saw them finish fifth in the table.
England also finished fifth under Jones in the 2018 championship.
"We are all, as an organisation, incredibly disappointed with what happened this year in the Six Nations. You'd expect more." Sweeney told media on Thursday.
"To come away with fifth-place last year and two wins, and then going into this year's Six Nations feeling in good shape and expecting more, to only have a further two wins out of 2022 and come third was incredibly disappointing for us.
"We demand more in terms of our results and performances. Emotions have been running very high, it still feels quite raw.
"There is a great deal of frustration and disappointment, there's also a shared deal of frustration with the fans.
"We saw a fantastic response from the fans during the Ireland game, one of the best examples of connecting with the team. We understand why they're expecting more and feel not in a great place at the moment.
"We do feel there's been some real positive developments. We do feel we're on a path to the right direction. If you look at where we were 12 months ago: we're in a better place.
"We look at that in the context of the longer term plan: the plan for the Six Nations next year and also going out to the World Cup [in France] in 2023. And we have set ourselves some specific objectives and targets that we feel we need to hit as a squad and as a team.
"It's a very tight-knit squad. There is a strong spirit. The players believe in the head coach [Eddie Jones] and believe he's taking them in the right direction.
"And he [Jones] certainly feels that he's got a really good set of players to take us through to the next Six Nations and then on to 2023.
"We're very excited by developments despite the fact we're coming out of a very difficult period. We know we're going to get a better."
