Mike Brown launches scathing attack on England team-mates responsible for leaked stories by admitting 'the trust has gone now'

Brown has joined a growing number of England players to express their dismay at stories being leaked out of the England camp

Mike Brown (L) says the trust among the England squad is 'completely shot' (Getty Images)

Mike Brown has admitted that he does not trust anyone in the England squad anymore after a number of stories were leaked out to the media in the aftermath of the dismal Rugby World Cup campaign.

England became the first host nation to be eliminated at the pool stage, and while full-back Brown believes that there does not need to be a complete overhaul of the playing squad, he feels that the trust between the players needs to be rebuilt as it is currently “completely shot”.

Brown was one of the few players that came out of the World Cup with flying colours, with the Harlequins back one of the stand out players of the pool stage as he starred in the opening victory over Fiji as well as the disappointing defeats by Wales and Australia.

A full review is currently ongoing into the future of English rugby and the coaching staff at the helm of the national team, with Stuart Lancaster’s position as head coach looking even more precarious than before due to Sam Burgess’s recent rugby union departure.

However, it is the constant leaks from stories within the squad – most recently an article in The Sun on Sunday about an RFU investigation into the England kit manager Dave Tennison over allegations he encouraged player to invest in an energy share company – that has irked Brown, and left him with a complete lack of trust in the team he has spent the best part of three years in.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Brown said: “There has been a story at the weekend which is absolutely ridiculous so the trust has gone now as far as I am concerned. I worked so hard to play in a World Cup and I am passionate about playing for England.

“It is just difficult because we have not left it in a good place and it doesn’t help with all these people deciding to pipe up in the squad that probably shouldn’t be, probably anonymously.

But it will come out who it was at the end of the day so it will be interesting when it does because I will be one of the first people to speak to them

&#13; <p>Mike Brown, England and Harlequins</p>&#13;

Brown added: “If they are going to say something, I think they should put their name to it. That is going to make it even more difficult when we (the England squad) do meet up because I think the trust has been, as you can imagine, completely shot now.

“But it will come out who it was at the end of the day so it will be interesting when it does because I will be one of the first people to speak to them."

The 30-year-old is not the first to express his concern with the current state of the England squad and how stories have come out of the camp, with Burgess using his column in the Daily Mail to admit he was “disappointed” with how news continued to come out of the squad after the World Cup elimination.

Mike Brown scored in the victory over Fiji (Getty Images)

Billy Vunipola and Danny Care have already distanced themselves with the leaks by speaking out other them, as has Wasps flanker James Haskell.

While admitting the loss of trust is “disappointing”, Brown stressed that it will be regained by clear-the-air talks once the squad meets up ahead of next year’s Six Nations, where England will play their first game since the World Cup debacle against Scotland on 6 February.