Naked truth about RFU exposed by lack of scrutiny for Emperor Jones

If you squinted hard enough into the sunshine at Twickenham on Thursday you could almost see them. The sunlit uplands and, just beyond, the promised land of 2023 Rugby World Cup glory. But that’s the problem with mirages. You end up seeing what you want to see rather than the flashing amber warning signals seemingly visible to everyone except the Rugby Football Union.

In his first media briefing for 12 months – if he craves the spotlight he hides it well – the RFU’s chief executive, Bill Sweeney, at least did his best to sell the official vision. All the critics, former coaches, ex-players and social media warriors had got their knickers in a twist unnecessarily. Emperor Eddie Jones is still the man, the England team is still on the right track, nothing to see here, blah blah.

For a millisecond it was possible to feel sympathy for Sweeney and his director of performance, Conor O’Shea, as they recited from the same, now familiar hymn sheet. It cannot be hugely enjoyable to have to sit there and spout stuff that has a decent chance of boomeranging back to whack them hard on the back of the head next year. Maybe there would be some prearranged code word or an eye roll to indicate that, actually, they did have a few doubts but were being coerced by some delusional captor?

In a media briefing stretching over an hour, sadly, there was no such reassurance. Those suggesting the emperor has precious few clothes left were politely advised to visit Specsavers. In Eddie we should all trust. And so on. There have been slightly less choreographed North Korean weddings, not least when it came to the subject of the planned “review” into England’s latest season of Six Nations underachievement.

No surprise there, given the union has