Johnson: Wielding the axe would be ridiculous
MARTIN JOHNSON has angrily hit back at England’s “hysterical” critics, insisting calls to sack his under-fire coaches are “ridiculous”.
Former internationals Josh Lewsey and Will Greenwood led the calls for changes at the top of English rugby following the disappointing autumn internationals campaign.
Forwards coach John Wells and defence coach Mike Ford were the two who came under the most scrutiny but boss Johnson has slammed suggestions of sacking them, insisting it would not help England’s progression to the 2011 World Cup.
“The easy thing for me to do would be to go, ‘Yes, you are right’, sack X, Y and Z and buy yourself some time and blame someone else,” Johnson raged. “That would be easy to do but it wouldn’t be right.
“It is not nice to sack people but if I thought the decision was in the best interests of the team, I would make it.
“We are not satisfied with the way we have played. We know when we have not been good enough. But some of the criticism has been so wide of the mark and almost hysterical.”