Dean Richards has stated he has “absolutely no interest” in being England’s head coach, suggesting he would not last a week in the job.
Richards’s stock has soared after guiding Newcastle to the play-offs and on Thursday he was named the Premiership’s director of rugby of the season, 17 years after he last won the accolade with Leicester. Eddie Jones signed a contract extension until 2021 in January but it includes a break clause after the World Cup next year and the Rugby Football Union has begun its recruitment process, planning for both eventualities.
Richards was touted for the role in 2008 and would again be an attractive option for the RFU, having rebuilt his reputation with Newcastle after the 2009 Bloodgate scandal. He recently signed a new three-year deal with Newcastle but the RFU demonstrated a willingness to buy its chosen candidate out of contract with Jones.
“When someone suggested it I laughed because I have absolutely no interest in it at all,” Richards said. “I just don’t fancy it. It is a totally different job to being a director of rugby at a club. There is more politics, more dealing with the media. All the stuff that I find very difficult and don’t like, you’d be expected to do more of. It takes a special person to do the international job.
“You only have to look at the treatment of Martin Johnson, Stuart Lancaster and Andy Robinson by the media and by the RFU when it didn’t go right. Why would I want to put myself through that? I am a little bit blunt, a little bit straight-talking and certainly not one for politics at all. I would almost certainly fall foul in the first week. It’s just not for me.”
