England coach Stuart Lancaster jumped before he was axed from his international role, but in the end he made the smart call.
There’s no doubt that Lancaster had to go. England had won nothing under him in the past four years and failed to get out of the poor stage of their own World Cup was the nail in the coffin.
The selection of Sam Burgess when he wasn’t ready, the persistence of Chris Robshaw at openside and as captain, the scatter-brain approach to selection, the failure to compete with the southern hemisphere all contributed to his downfall.
But the simple fact is Lancaster never should have been there.
He did do a decent job rebuilding the team culture after the failure under Martin Johnson at the 2011 World Cup. But if you look at his background, both as a coach and player, he was never up to one of the high-pressure jobs in world rugby.
Lancaster never played at the highest level and had won nothing as a coach, apart from a promotion challenge, before he took the England job.
His record in the Six Nations was second, second, second and second. If you can’t beat France, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy, how the hell do you hope to beat New Zealand, South Africa and Australia?
His record against the big three was three wins, one draw and 11 losses. Ouch.
Lancaster chopped and changed his team too much and persisted in an average leader in Robshaw as skipper.
He dropped Luther Burrell unfairly on the eve of the World Cup and failed to use the dynamic and talented Henry Slade. During the World Cup he went with two similar scrum halves, leaving the speedy and more attack-minded Danny Care out.
Lancaster’s team never really had a style of player it stuck to, never really decided on an identity. The former teacher didn’t seem to command respect in the way a Warren Gatland or a Michael Cheika does.
At the end of the day you are judged on results, and Lancaster’s results were poor.
The 46-year old resigned before he got sacked. A dignified and honest character, maybe he was just too ‘nice’ for the job.
Now comes the interesting part, who comes in to replace him. There is a dearth of successful, experienced local coaches.
England should look abroad for a Gatland, Cheika, Schmidt or Cotter. There were talks with Wayne Smith before, and he would be intriguing choice.
Another name that has popped up is 2007 World Cup winner Jake White. A polarising figure, sure, but one who gets results.
Either the South African or the Kiwi would be better choices than Lancaster, because they know what it takes and how to lead a team to silverware.
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson
m0b1us
Guest
It's Eddie Jones.
Ken
Roar Rookie
Hah, Cipriani That was no loss. A no ****heads policy sorted that one out
cuw
Guest
nah, he was the peter moores of rugger. too much research too little performance. he had little idea how to play or whom to choose. and worse for him, he backed himself into corners that were too tight. for ex. he named robshaw as skipper. the whole world knew he was not on par with other international 7s. now had he not made him skipper, he could have dropped or started him off the bench. (that is exactly what the Quins are doing now). he picked SB over the incumbent. that was a massive faux pas. burrell was the one who played the 6 nations. also he refused to pick the overseas guys but picked SB who had not even played in england for one year and new to rugger. he dropped cipriani, who a week or so before had shown a different approach to 10 - play. later on it emerged that catt had an issue with him. he went on record that the first choice center pair - joseph and barritt had never played together. seriously??? for all his research and planning he just could not do much to beat those who matter. same with moores.
Bakkies
Guest
That was driven by injury and due to the fact that he hadn't had one of his first choice centres in Tuilagi on the pitch over the past two years. The Boks ended up with an inexperienced midfield. If the stars aligned brightly for Meyer he would have gone de Villiers- Fourie.
Bakkies
Guest
He said in a pre match interview last night that he hadn't been contacted but putting himself in the frame. Jake is more of a manager and gets an awful lot of assistants on board to put in work even two or three sessions a week. One of the main issues with England is the assistants not just in Lancaster's reign but Ashton and Robinson's too. Hire Jake and there will be far too many of them.
Die hard
Roar Rookie
I think it a great shame he is gone. Lost is the wealth of knowledge and experience acquired over the last four years. He put much into researching successful teams and tried to apply that to England. He was prepared to experiment with other styles than the traditional English barge, in recognition that the rugby world was evolving. He involved himself in lower grades to provide inclusion. He tried to emulate the All Blacks set up and method as best that he could fit into the squad he had. Even though unsuccessful the motives were worthy. He could be accused of poor selections and would have benefited from better support in that. Nonsense's like the Burgess selection should never have happened. If he stayed he might have applied all that pain to build something, as did Hansen and Henry.
Harry Jones
Expert
It'll be Jake. His dream job, really. Great fit.
richardislip
Guest
Absolutely true. Ian Ritchie should be gone along with Lancaster.He is the one who chose Lancaster, and he is the one who gave Lancaster a contract extension before the World Cup.......despite the supposed " poor" results up until then. He is the one who said he would take full responsibility if the World Cup campaign failed. And????? Correct....the arrogance and abrogation of all responsibility from a typical CEO. Ritchie, teflon coated, remains in power. And continues to bluster about " vigorous selection policy for a new coach"....and " global search"....etc. I would be amazed if Jake White got the job. His own CV in the past few years is riddled with job changes every few months. He does not speak " properly enough" for the pompous England rugby establishment, including the players and spectators. ( a big reason why the rugby continues to fail ) There would be a very quick fallout. He can relate to nothing there.
cuw
Guest
that is just the tip of the iceberg. he was on record admitting that HIS first choice center pair of Joseph and barritt had never played together before rwc!!!! that is what we say nucking futs :)
JB
Roar Rookie
He did not have the choice after such a disastrous result at the world cup. It may be a pity in some ways as he has started building an interesting squad but there were some major blunders that could not be ignored: the stupidity of selecting Burgess so early can only be explained by the money spent to attract him and not by his performances on the rugby field; the insanity of picking up a midfield with so little international experience when compared to a Nonu-Smith pairing or even Giteau - Kuridrani; the choice of captain was very poor and, finally, why ignore some of your best players across the Channel? Selecting Armitage was not going to kill English Rugby; he was an hour away from England and would have brought a different dimension to a poor backrow
cuw
Guest
STUART LANCASTER'S ENGLAND RECORD IN FULL Overall Games - 46 Wins - 28 Losses - 17 Draws - 1 Win ratio - 60.9 per cent Biggest win - 60-3 v Uruguay, World Cup, City of Manchester Stadium, October 10, 2015 Biggest loss - 30-3 v Wales, Six Nations, Millennium Stadium, March 16, 2013 Six Nations Games - 20 Wins - 16 Losses - 4 Draws - 0 Win ratio - 80 per cent Titles - 0 vs New Zealand, Australia and South Africa Games - 15 Wins - 3 Losses - 11 Draws - 1 Win ratio - 20 per cent World Cup Games - 4 Wins - 2 Losses - 2 Draws - 0 Win ratio - 50 per cent
cuw
Guest
its interesting that his name is touted as the front runner. just after the england exit from rwc, he went on record saying no thnaks. he gave an interview to one english paper and said that during the process of selecting a coach when martin jhonson was removed, he had been contacted and then used as "also rans" to give the job to lancaster. the powers that be had used some names with better cvs to show that a process was carried out but the outcome of it and the best suited to coach england was lancaster. ironically the same thing was said by sir clive woodward but the position was director or something which rob andrew got. in fact both white and woodward said they are not interested. it is also interesting that it is the coach who loses the job but not the jokers who put england rugby in this position. however, eddie jones went on record saying himself as coach and woodward as director would be a dream team!
BBA
Guest
Jake wouldnt be a bad coach for them, and is definitely a hedgehog type coach but he does have his weaknesses, he is likely to annoy RFU members, he probably not have the authority to run the team how he thinks the team should best be run. I dont think he has a magic formula for beating SH teams either. However put Jake White and eddie Jones together and you might have something formidable.
mania
Guest
would be scary having jakeWhite there. wouldn't take much for jake to whip the roses into shape. that's a worry
Machooka
Roar Guru
Yes John... pressure pushing down on me... under pressure... pressure. Thanks... good read.