The former England captain Nigel Melville has been hired to replace the outgoing Rob Andrew in the most far-reaching Rugby Football Union reshuffle for a decade. Andrew will leave Twickenham this summer after 10 eventful years, with his fellow Yorkshireman and former team-mate Melville taking over as the director of professional rugby.
Melville has been in charge of USA Rugby since 2007, having previously been Wasps’ first director of rugby at the dawn of the professional era. As well as assuming Andrew’s duties he will also plug the hole left by Joe Lydon’s recent departure as head of international player development. The Guardian understands a performance expert will also be recruited in the coming months to assist Melville with the job of converting England’s huge playing numbers into more consistent top-level success.
The RFU insists Andrew was not pushed but instigated discussions with his chief executive, Ian Ritchie, earlier this year with a view to departing the union. Some will argue the former had outstayed his welcome and was in effect sidelined some time ago but he did preside over a gradual improvement in the relationship between the clubs and the RFU. Either way it is somehow typical of English rugby that, having overseen a new eight-year agreement with the Premiership poised to come into force this summer, Andrew is now moving on and leaving his successor with only limited scope to effect rapid change.
However, with England’s head coach, Eddie Jones, having made clear he merely wants to concentrate on sharpening up the national side, there was a clear need for more rugby nous inside Twickenham. In that respect the 55-year-old Melville fits the bill neatly, having represented England 13 times and captained them on his debut against Australia in 1984. The erstwhile scrum-half also represented the British and Irish Lions in New Zealand in 1983. “I am hugely excited about this opportunity to join England Rugby in what is a very buoyant time,” he said. “This year already the men have claimed the grand slam, the domestic game has continued to thrive, the U20s are looking to win the Junior World Championship in Manchester and the men and women will compete in the sevens competition at the Olympics in Rio for the first time ever. I am looking forward to helping bring further success to England teams.”
Melville will not be Jones’s boss, with the Australian still reporting directly to Ritchie. The structure, even so, now has more clarity to it, Andrew’s role at the RFU having undergone a number of different incarnations. Since arriving from Newcastle Falcons in 2006 as director of elite rugby he became operations director and then professional rugby director, eventually outlasting four England head coaches.
“After 10 years at the RFU and with the impending conclusion of the second heads of agreement, it feels like the right time to step down at the end of the season,” said Andrew, who has latterly been overseeing the regional academies, coaching development, referees, rugby operations and the Championship.
“My role has primarily been to set up a structure that would ultimately deliver long-term success to England through a pipeline of talented players coming through the academy system. The pipeline is going from strength to strength and I believe will deliver Eddie Jones and his coaches the world-class players England need to ensure increasing success.”
Ritchie paid tribute to Andrew, suggesting the former fly-half had brought about “a great deal of positive change” within English professional rugby. “Rob was the architect of this structural legacy and should be justifiably proud of his achievements,” he added. As a player Andrew won 71 caps for England and played five Tests for the Lions. As a director of rugby he guided Newcastle Falcons to the Premiership in 1998 as well as two knock-out Cup trophies.
