Keith Wood feels Eddie Jones' reaction to Italy's tactics against his England side was "awful".
The England head coach did not hide his displeasure after his side's Six Nations win against Conor O'Shea's Italy.
Italy had caught England by surprise in the first half by avoiding rucks, allowing them to stand in offside positions after tackles.
Jones had described that as "not rugby" and was critical of the referee's display.
Former Ireland captain Wood had his say on what he saw as well as the reaction of the England head coach.
"Eddie Jones' response afterwards was awful," he said.
"I think he was trying to deflect a lot of pressure away from his players - quite literally - and in fairness to Eddie Jones, Eddie Jones will do almost anything to try and win anyway."
England did go on to beat Italy to make it three wins from three but were vulnerabilities apparent in their inability to respond to Italy's surprise ploy? Especially as Ireland face them in the final round of fixtures in Dublin.
"I would say they haven't played particularly well in this Six Nations," said Wood.
"But they still have their wins. They have three wins already. They're winning ugly, they're doing the old Liverpool thing of winning ugly and that's fine.
"And they're not playing particularly well. I think they're missing a few players, I think they're being found out a little at times but I think they're a fine side and they will click and they will be very, very impressive when they do.
"This was a bit destabilising for them and I think you have to give a huge amount of credit to Conor O'Shea when you look at how they played and how they went about the game. Their job isn't about entertainment, it's about trying to give them a chance and I thought it was a bit mean spirited by Eddie Jones on some of it in saying that 'it didn't work'. Well, it was close to working."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
