England are prepared to look abroad for a coach to succeed Stuart Lancaster but will such a candidate accept the current restrictions on selecting overseas-based players?
That was the question left hanging in the air when Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie gave a news conference on Wednesday following the announcement that Lancaster was stepping down from his England role after the team’s woeful World Cup display.
No foreigner has ever been the head coach of the England side but Ritchie’s stated desire for someone of “proven international experience” to replace Lancaster, who presided over the worst performance by a host nation at a World Cup after his side failed to get out of the group phase, means that could now change.
Jake White, who guided South Africa to World Cup glory in 2007, compatriot Nick Mallett, Australian Eddie Jones and New Zealand’s Wayne Smith have all been touted as possible candidates.
However, the latter two effectively ruled themselves out on Thursday, with Jones saying he was committed to his new role with South Africa‘s Western Stormers and Smith making it clear he wanted to take a break from full-time coaching in 2016.
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But it appears any new coach’s hands could be tied by Ritchie’s insistence that England will continue with their controversial policy of not selecting overseas-based players save “in exceptional circumstances” only.
Quite what those circumstances are, given a home World Cup was not enough to prevent England abandoning their policy and recalling flanker Steffon Armitage, who plays for French-based European champions Toulon, remains unclear although they are thought to include injuries, suspensions and sudden retirements.
England badly missed a turnover specialist of Armitage’s calibre at a World Cup where the likes ofSouth Africa‘s Francois Louw, Australia’s David Pocock and victorious New Zealand captain Richie McCaw all proved the value of such a player.
Yet Ritchie saw no need to amend a policy which many observers believe has more to do with helping keep the peace between the RFU and England’s 12 Premiership clubs than it does in building a successful Test side.
“I’ve said before I think it’s right, and I do agree with that policy. I do not think that was an impediment to the end result of what happened at the World Cup.
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“I’ve not excluded English coaches, I am merely saying we would look at international coaches as well.
“I think that is quite different to players. That is based on practicality of access and maintaining the strength of the English game. We want to see English players playing in England.”
‘Ridiculous’
But Clive Woodward, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach, wrote in his Daily Mail column: “I would love to know the specifics behind this. So we can’t pick players who play abroad, but we can employ coaches who come from abroad? How ridiculous.”
Only England and world champions New Zealand have such a strict policy on only selecting home-based players.
Australia used to take a similarly hardline stance but, under coach Michael Cheika — also linked to the England job — they relaxed their rules to allow players with at least 60 caps and seven years’ experience with an Australian Super Rugby team the chance of a recall.
The likes of Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell, team-mates of Armitage’s at Toulon, returned to the Wallabies set-up under the new dispensation and both backs played key roles in Australia’s run to the World Cup final.
Ritchie has made it clear that money will be no object for the RFU, the world’s wealthiest national rugby union, as they seek a successor to Lancaster, with some reports suggesting the new coach could earn double the Englishman’s reputed £450,000-a-year ($684,615, 635,712 euros) salary.
Yet, as Woodward observed, “there is something that just does not feel right about England, with all our wealth and resources, raiding another country for their coach”.
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Eddie Jones for England? Not likely. He’s a Stormer now
By Nick Said
CAPE TOWN, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Seasoned Australian coach Eddie Jones wants to bring back the flair of old to the Stormers and light up Newlands when he makes his return to Super Rugby in 2016.
The Cape Town-based side have been criticised by many fans in recent years for adopting a dour approach under former coach Allister Coetzee.
Jones, a major hit with Japan at the recent World Cup in England, wants to revert back to a style of play for which the Western Province side was previously renowned in order to try to lead them to a first Super Rugby title.
“When you look at the history of Western Province, the team has been about playing attacking rugby,” he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
“What we will be looking to do is develop an attacking style with a traditional South African base which means forward domination and strong set-phase play which is pretty much what everyone chases after.
“We want to play good rugby and light up Newlands. If we do that we will get results and have a good year,” said Jones.
“How long it takes to win Super Rugby which is obviously our ultimate goal … I don’t know.”
Jones steered Japan to three victories in the 2015 World Cup pool phase including a stunning 34-32 win over the Springboks.
With interest in Japan at record levels, the temptation could have been to stay with the 2019 World Cup hosts but Jones said the opportunity to return to day-to-day coaching prompted his decision to move to Cape Town.
“Japan offered me the job to go forward and once I decided I didn’t want to be director of rugby for their Super Rugby team, for various reasons, to stay in Japan and coach five games a year, I thought, ‘I’m 55, I want to maximise my coaching time’,” he said.
Ten More Years
“I’ve got maybe another 10 years … and to work in South Africa was a big drawcard. Not many foreign coaches have come here.”
Jones said he had received no contact from England over their vacant role of head coach but, in any case, he added that he was committed to the Stormers.
He takes over a young side that has lost a number of key players, among them Jean de Villiers and Duane Vermeulen, and believes his experience in Japan has some parallels with the task ahead at Newlands.
“Japan was an exciting project, to take a side that had historically been a joke team and make them into a proper rugby side was a massive cultural and psychological challenge,” explained Jones.
“I learned a lot while doing that and, while the Stormers is a completely different job, we need to change the culture, mind-set and playing style of the team. Those things I have learnt in Japan … the processes will be the same.”
Jones said transformation in South African rugby, where more black players could be forced into the six Super Rugby teams, was a non-issue.
“Transformation is part of South African society and Western Province has a history of embracing it. I see it as a normal part of what we are going to do,” he added.
Super Rugby will have three additional teams, including from Japan and Argentina, but no matches in the pool stages between South African and New Zealand sides.
“For the South African players it’s going to be tough, they have huge local derbies and then have to play against Australian teams who traditionally fancy themselves against South African sides,” said Jones.
The 55-year-old, who won the Super Rugby title with Australia’s Brumbies in 2001, coaches his first match against traditional rivals the Pretoria-based Bulls on Feb. 26.
Jones is likely to need some patience and one other factor if the Stormers are going to succeed.
“You always need luck,” he said with a trademark smile.
