England’s Rugby World Cup campaign has lurched into further trouble with the coaches Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree banned from the dressing room for their side’s final Pool A game against Uruguay on Saturday night. Stuart Lancaster’s future as head coach is also looking increasingly bleak, with the Rugby Football Union forced to deny it is already approaching potential candidates to succeed him.
Farrell and Rowntree have been found guilty of breaching tournament regulations during England’s defeat to Australia at Twickenham last weekend. They admitted approaching the French referee Romain Poite in the tunnel and will not be allowed into the changing room before, during or after the Uruguay game. It is understood they were annoyed at the lack of action taken against Michael Hooper for his aggressive clear-out of full-back Mike Brown, an offence for which the flanker was later cited and then banned for a week. Farrell and Rowntree, along with the RFU, have also been warned about their future conduct.
It is a further dent to an English coaching team already gutted by their team’s inability to qualify for the knock-out stages. The beginning of the end of Lancaster’s tenure as England’s head coach is due to be set in motion next week when the RFU announces the details of its review into the host nation’s premature exit. The union has denied reports in South Africa suggesting it had already been in touch with the former Springbok coach Nick Mallett but the speculation has hardly boosted Lancaster’s chances of retaining his current position.
The RFU insisted none of its senior officials had telephoned Mallett, who was interviewed for the head coach’s role along with Lancaster in 2011, with a source acknowledging it would have been “highly unethical” had anyone at Twickenham done so with Lancaster still in place. An RFU spokesperson also insisted Lancaster’s future had not yet been determined. “There is a clear process at the conclusion of England’s tournament, which starts with the review. No prejudgements have been made nor anyone contacted.”
Lancaster appeared taken aback when informed about the Mallett story. “I didn’t know that, to be honest, but that’s just the nature of the situation we are in,” he said. Asked if he was concerned about people potentially being spoken to before a review had been officially launched, he said he hoped to be kept in the loop. “I’d like to think I’d know if the review had started ... but there are only certain things I can control. I am sure there are a lot of conversations going on and very soon, probably early next week, there will be a format you will be informed about and it will all flow from there.”
The RFU is declining to reveal the number of people on the review panel but it is understood the process will be concluded far more quickly than the prolonged 2011 review – subsequently leaked – into England’s failed campaign in New Zealand. The Guardian also understands the review will concentrate solely on the national team’s coaching set-up rather than being extended to cover the input of Twickenham’s rugby department or wider issues relating to English rugby.
Lancaster will be one step removed from the process – “It is the CEO’s, chairman’s and board’s decision who they put on the review panel ... I would just pick all my mates” – but he is hoping any players who do take part will testify in his favour. “I have been reviewed many times and received 360-degree feedback, you name it. I have got no problems with it. The ideal scenario is that it is done privately and confidentially and the results are then made public but that might be quite hard.”
