Ugo Monye has revealed that former England captain and head coach Martin Johnson was pulled from the BBC’s protection of the Six Nations final weekend after shedding his voice. Johnson was set to be on punditry duties for England’s defeat to Scotland alongside Sam Warburton and John Barclay however was changed by Monye simply half-hour earlier than going stay.
Monye was already at Murrayfield to participate in ‘some pre-match stuff’ and didn’t anticipate to be in entrance of the cameras when he obtained the decision at brief discover. He was solely knowledgeable that he can be filling in for Johnson round half an hour earlier than the beginning of the protection in a state of affairs he labelled as ‘weird’.
Talking on the Rugby Union Every day podcast, Monye defined: “I wasn’t meant to be within the studio for the Calcutta Cup. It was truly fairly a weird sequence of occasions. I used to be performing some pre-match stuff with John, obtained a name from a producer saying: ‘Martin Johnson’s misplaced his voice’.
“It was about half an hour earlier than the sport, so I then walked up into the studio carrying a baseball cap, which is not actually BBC-friendly, for the telly. So, yeah, it was a slight shock to be masking that match however a number of enjoyable doing it.”
England went on to endure their fourth straight defeat to Scotland, who made their dwelling benefit rely to earn a 30-21 victory over their conventional rivals. Duhan van der Merwe turned the primary Scotland participant to attain a Calcutta Cup hat-trick because the hosts put England to the sword but once more.
The end result prompted calls for giant adjustments within the England camp, with former Leicester and Wasps full-back Andy Goode suggesting that Steve Borthwick must be sacked whereas calling out a lot of high-profile gamers.
Posting on X, previously Twitter, Goode mentioned: “There’s a good few gamers that Steve Borthwick wants to maneuver on if we’re going to evolve. [Joe] Marler, [Dan] Cole, [George] Ford, [Elliott] Daly to call just a few. We’ve been bang common at finest for the reason that 2019 World Cup semi-final, I truly don’t assume Borthwick and a few of his assistant coaches ought to keep.
“Large mindset shift wanted for England, some gamers and coaches aren’t aligned with how the sport is and must be performed, Eire are the northern hemisphere barometer. England are miles behind however have gamers to evolve, the issue is the mindset and training, too risk-averse.
“Congrats to Scotland, most likely ought to have gained by greater than 9 factors, huge questions round what id England have and need to appear to be, we’re to this point behind Eire, Scotland and France once more.”
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