Austin Healey: Players to blame for Johnson's exit

Austin Healey today claimed England's World Cup flops must shoulder some of the blame for their part in Martin Johnson's demise.

Johnson's decision follows a miserable World Cup which ended in quarter-final defeat by France and featured a series of on and off-field controversies.

"Certainly what happened at the World Cup – in terms of the players' behaviour – played a role in Martin's decision to leave.

"But he is own man and the fact he has resigned perhaps indicates that," Healey told the Express & Star this afternoon.

"I think Martin has been a great servant to England and will go down as the country's best-ever captain but perhaps won't go down as the best-ever manager.

"Martin has made his decision and he will move on to other things.

"Personally I would have liked for him to have stayed on with a few different coaching staff but clearly he's no longer enjoying it and doesn't think it is right for him."

Healey believes England should involve former World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward in a new set-up rather than look to appoint a foreign coach as Johnson's replacement.

"There are a lot of journeyman foreign coaches and that is not where we should be headed," said the former England international.

"Since Clive left England, the RFU have been looking backwards and sideways rather than being pioneers and I personally think this situation opens the door for Clive to return to the set-up in some capacity. He's a class act."

Austin Healey was speaking at the RSA Academy School in Tipton where he was offering coaching tips to a school children as part of an ESPN-Premiership Rugby Masterclass.