Lawrence Dallaglio has issued an apology for the attack on England head coach Brian Ashton that has probably signalled the end of his international career.
The Wasps and England back-row was scathing of the preparations for the recent World Cup in his new autobiography, claiming the squad felt like a "pub team" and that Ashton "didn't have" the skills needed for his job.
England went on to recover from a disastrous start to the tournament to claim an unexpected place in the final before losing out to South Africa.
And given the current tide of public goodwill towards the national team, and the fact that the RFU are yet to complete their assessment of the tournament - and Ashton's position - Dallaglio admits he may have been wise to hold back.
"People are entitled to their opinions. I didn't set out in this book to embarrass anyone, to make bad comments about other people, and if that's happened I apologise," he said. "But I think it would have been wrong of me not to finish with the 2007 World Cup the same way as I have tried to achieve through the book, which is just to be honest and open with my opinions.
"The timing obviously wasn't great, the dust is yet to settle on the World Cup, and if that's caused a problem then I apologise unreservedly. But people will hopefully read the book and think it's reasonably balanced."
Dallaglio was restricted to a fringe role after starting in England's under-par opening 28-10 win over the USA. But the 35-year-old insists his criticism of Ashton is not borne out of anger at his marginalising.
"I don't want people to think I've come back from the World Cup a bitter player. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, albeit very different to four years ago," Dallaglio added.
"What I said in the book, and I'm not so sure it came across as balanced as it should have done, was that Brian Ashton was a very good coach and I did enjoy working with him throughout the World Cup, as I enjoyed working with all the other coaches."
The RFU have yet to guarantee that Ashton will be retained when his current deal expires at the end of the year. With Springboks coach Jake White confirming this week he is to leave his role as head coach with the World Cup-winners it has led some to speculation that he might be brought into the England set-up.
But Dallaglio refused to pass judgement, adding: "I'm not going to get drawn into who I think is the right person, or who isn't. Jake White did a tremendous job and South Africa won the World Cup because they happened to be the better side on the day, but as for his future, that's not for me to discuss."
