Veteran England back-rower Lawrence Dallaglio delivered a damning verdict on England's coaching set-up at this month's Rugby World Cup in extracts of his autobiography published in the Sunday Times newspaper.

Dallaglio, who did not make head coach Brian Ashton's team for much of the tournament, said that at one stage he thought "we'd managed to turn our World Cup campaign into a Monty Python sketch - called The Life Of Brian".

England were runners-up, losing in the final to South Africa despite the players sometimes feeling like they were in a "pub team", Dallaglio said.

"I hope I'm not going to lose a friendship over what I say about Brian, who was a good coach who I believe was in the wrong role," he added.

"Head coach of the England team demands management skills that, in my honest appraisal, Brian doesn't have."

Dallaglio said that Ashton's style was like "the Steiner school of rugby - free will and free love for all".

"It was like, 'You guys do what you want,' " he added.

But despite the laid-back approach, Ashton, forwards coach John Wells and defence coach Mike Ford were not singing "from the same hymn sheet" and had "different ideas about what the team should be doing".

Frustrations bubbled up at a pre-tournament training camp in Portugal when senior players including Dallaglio, captain Phil Vickery, Jonny Wilkinson and Jason Robinson got together to discuss a plan of action.

The problems surfaced again after South Africa beat England 36-0 in the initial stages of the event and the team held a meeting when Olly Barkley told Ashton: "Look, Brian, no one's got a f---ing clue how we're supposed to be playing here," Dallaglio said.

"If you ask the 15 guys who played against South Africa to write down the game plan, you would get 15 different answers."

Dallaglio said Barkley's assessment was an accurate reflection of the thinking among the squad.

"It was harsh but true," said Dallaglio.

But he also sees an upside to the experience, saying that England came out of the World Cup stronger.

"Out of the chaos, the lack of direction, the lack of leadership, we grew as a team and I have enormous admiration for a group of players who refused to lie down," he wrote.

Veteran centre Mike Catt joined in the criticism in extracts from his autobiography published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

He said that ahead of England's initial loss to South Africa, Ashton "seemed to be in a state of confusion" adding that he "thought of packing my bags and going home. The squad seemed to me to be rudderless".

But he said that after England beat Australia in the quarter-finals, Ashton "was on top of everything. He seemed like a different person".

AFP, Reuters