Johnson in distress at RFU disarray

MANY England rugby players are horrified by the series of leaked confidential reports on their troubled World Cup campaign, former manager Martin Johnson said yesterday.

Widespread friction in the camp was revealed in three reports leaked to a newspaper this week, which gave a grim account of ill-discipline, mismanagement, division and greed at a tournament that ended in a quarter-final loss to France.

“Of course it is not great to see those bits. It was one of the worst things I have experienced in the game,” said Johnson, who stood down as team manager last week. “You don’t like seeing criticism of people, of yourself, of players.”

The reviews by the RFU’s director of elite rugby Rob Andrew, the players’ union and the professional clubs, were not intended for public consumption but were obtained by The Times.