Coaches back Ashton over player jibes

Former England coach Andy Robinson, ex-Scotland and British & Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan and Bristol director of rugby Richard Hill claimed that the dressing room bond of loyalty should be strictly observed, even when players publish autobiographies.

Speaking at the Heineken Cup launch, Edinburgh director of rugby Robinson said: "There's a lot that happens within a team and there's a process that you develop. Rugby is the greatest team game you can play and leadership is vital within that. There will be times you'll make mistakes and times you'll do really well and all those aspects have got to stay within the camp."

He added: "There will be times when you needle each other, times when you're going to be cuddling each other and times when you're going to have disagreements.

"That's part of the bond of being part of a team, in my opinion. It's part of being nuclear as a team. Having disagreements is part of it.

"I very rarely criticised England players in the press. I don't think I've ever done that and I won't.

"It's part of a coach's job and you can do it face-to-face, one-on-one, but I don't think people should be making statements out of that scenario.

"Team-ship is a bond that you have and it's vital you are trustworthy to everybody and to me the bag man is as important within a team as the chief executive, to the head coach, the goal-kickers and everybody."

Former England captain Hill added: "I would endorse what Phil Vickery has said about Brian Ashton. A lot of things go on in rugby clubs and he made a very important point. As an example, we've got 54 players at Bristol and you can never keep that number happy.

"And you can never keep the whole World Cup squad happy because everyone wants to play in the starting XV and even in that starting line-up they will have ideas about how they want to play or get their involvement in the game."