England do not technically have a head coaching vacancy but, increasingly, one would not know it. With every day that passes the pressure increases on the Rugby Football Union to clarify the futures of Stuart Lancaster and his assistants amid mounting speculation about who may or may not be in the frame as potential replacements.
Michael Cheika is the latest name to feature in the headlines, following reports in Australia he had been contacted by the RFU’s president, Jason Leonard. The story has been “categorically denied” by Twickenham officials but, then again, they were hardly going to confirm they were tapping up a replacement for a senior employee only one year into a six-year deal.
It could even be a story designed to spook the Australian Rugby Union into contractual action rather than its English counterparts but, whatever, it serves to illustrate the problem facing the RFU. Anyone can compile a list of so-called super-coaches and give them a ring on the off-chance but actually signing them up is a different matter.
Is Steve Hansen going to leave New Zealand? Everyone knows his answer is no. Warren Gatland, Joe Schmidt and Vern Cotter also sound happy where they are and would take some prising from their present employers.
That effectively leaves Eddie Jones, Wayne Smith and Jake White if the RFU seeks a currently active coach with a track record of consistent international success at the highest level. Jones’s World Cup achievements with Japan, South Africa and Australia, as well as his intimation that he would be happy to talk to the RFU, would appear to make him both a strong favourite and an attractive option. If, however, the 55-year-old decides to fulfil his commitment to coach the Stormers in South Africa instead, Twickenham really will be in a hole.
With the well-connected Jones at the helm it would be relatively quick and easy to assemble a complementary coaching team around him; he could potentially re-hire at least one of his Japanese lieutenants Steve Borthwick and Marc dal Maso, along with the out-of-contract Shaun Edwards.
England would then have a seasoned posse to take them into this season’s Six Nations, on tour to Australia and, theoretically, all the way to 2019. Alternatively Jones could go back to his old club Saracens and cosy up to Paul Gustard and Alex Sanderson, two of the more promising English coaches around.
That would merely leave a backs coach, if we assume that job is destined to become vacant over the next few days. If Ian Foster could be prised away from the All Blacks where he fulfils that same role England would be truly blessed but Northampton’s Alex King, Exeter’s Ali Hepher, Newcastle’s Dave Walder, the Fiji sevens coach Ben Ryan, the Australian Steve Meehan and even the restless brain of Austin Healey could all add a dash of something different.
Without a proven mastermind at the top, however, it becomes increasingly complex and potentially messy. The top three English candidates – Dean Ryan, Rob Baxter and Jim Mallinder – all have ongoing club projects they would be loath to abandon and, if Conor O’Shea and Mark McCall ever joined forces, it would surely be with Ireland. Dave Rennie, Gregor Townsend, Gonzalo Quesada: it will require some impressive left-field thinking for one of them to make the shortlist. Brendan Venter? Sir Clive Woodward? Only in the event of a palace revolt at Twickenham and the current incumbents all fleeing at the dead of night.
Woodward, who has not coached in rugby for the past decade, may yet re-enter the equation as a candidate for a high-profile internal role if the politics really start getting turbulent. Otherwise someone such as Josh Lewsey, currently employed by the Welsh Rugby Union, might be a positive addition behind the scenes. For now, though, the RFU review is strictly concerned with the post-World Cup coaching picture, with the chief executive, Ian Ritchie, planning to report to his management board next Tuesday. Sooner rather than later England’s future intentions – not least regarding Lancaster’s position – will become significantly clearer.
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