The Breakdown | Danny Care's belated whistleblowing shows toxicity of the wall of silence over Jones

Today at 06:43 AM

The former England scrum-half's depiction of the Australian's 'dictatorship' raises serious questions for RFU

It has taken a while to trickle out but the full and frank verdict of the players is finally in. "It was like living in a dictatorship," writes Danny Care in his new autobiography, Everything Happens for a Reason, serialised in the Sunday Times. "Remember what it felt like when someone was being bullied at school and you were just glad it wasn't you? That was the vibe."

The England regime to which he was referring – shock, horror – was that of Eddie Jones. According to Care, Jones's players felt "like characters in a dystopian novel" at times. "Everything's a test," they would whisper to each other, trying to steel themselves for whatever was about to follow. "Did Eddie rule by fear?" asks Care rhetorically, at one point. "Of course he did, everyone was bloody terrified of him."