Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio had harsh words for the English Rugby Football Union's director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, on Sunday morning.
Martin Johnson's men fell to a 12-10 defeat away to France on Saturday evening, following an encouraging performance, but Dallaglio has insisted that England's rugby players no longer have the type of belief that they did in his day, and he blames the RFU for that.
"As manager, Johnson must accept responsibility, but the ultimate responsibility rests not with him but with the RFU's director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew," Dallaglio wrote in his column for the Sunday Times. "He is the guy who ensured that Johnson began his management journey from the wrong starting point.
"England no longer aim to be the best in the world, the players do not work in an environment conducive to producing a world-class team and, in this respect, we are short-changing the current generation. You only know how good a player is when he is allowed to work in the right set-up."
Dallaglio harked back to England's days under Sir Clive Woodward.
"Woodward talked endlessly about world-class standards producing world-class players; he got us to focus on being the number one team in rugby, not just in European rugby," reminisced the former Wasps star.