England Attack coach Brian Smith has resigned from his position with the Rugby Football Union as the fall out begins from the leaked reports.

rugbyweek

Smith was appointed in July 2008 and as his contract with England was up for renewal next month he decided not to seek a renewal of his contract.

He said: “I feel that England have made great strides in the last three years and although the World Cup was a massive disappointment, we have won 10 out of the last 13 games, including beating Australia back-to-back and winning the RBS 6 Nations for the first time since 2003.

“Johno appointed me and gave me the opportunity, and that’s something I will be forever grateful for. He has been fantastic to work for and has always given 100 per cent and maintained the utmost integrity. ”

“Working with the other coaches has also been a positive experience and I wish them all well.”

Martin Johnson said: “Brian has brought a high level of coaching and a huge amount of commitment and passion to the job. ”

“If you look at our record in the last 12 months, and the fact that we have scored 37 tries to 12 conceded, it shows what an impact he has made. I want to thank him for what he has done for the England team and for the young players that he has brought on.”

Forty-five-year-old Smith was heavily criticized in the leaked Rugby World Cup reports that were leaked earlier this week.

One player slammed Brian Smith saying, “He was out of his depth. There must be 20 coaches in the Premiership who would be better.”

Others examples of what that players thought of Smith are :-

“He simply doesn’t understand the game well enough.”

“The players had all the ideas for strategy and all he did was write the players’ ideas on the board.”

“If we’d got to the semi-finals or final it would have papered over the cracks and the worst thing is Brian Smith would have stayed in his job. It might be a blessing.”

“In one preview he said we should scrum and maul them off the park, then in the review he said, “Why were you scrummaging them to death?”

“I would be delighted if he went. Our attack play was boring, uninventive, lacklustre.”

Australian Smith was Director of Rugby at English Premiership club  London Irish before he joined Martin Johnson’s England coaching team and it is not yet known where he will go to now.