Rugby: Kiwis wanted to step in as next England coach

Former Wallabies and Crusaders coach Robbie Deans. Photo / Paul Estcourt

England is eyeing up the colonies again. Four Kiwi coaches and an Australian are being touted as the men who can rescue English rugby.

Former England lock-turned-columnist Paul Ackford is urging English bosses to chase an overseas coach, with Aussie Eddie Jones and Kiwis Warren Gatland and Joe Schmidt at the top of his hit list.

The Telegraph has added another New Zealander to the mix - former All Blacks assistant and Wallaby head coach Robbie Deans who is in Japan on a holding-the-folding operation while he seeks another crack at international coaching.

The Guardian, not to be outdone, says current All Black assistant coach Wayne Smith would give the English backline more attacking edge. Smith has previously been linked with England. The way this is going, Sir John Kirwan might get a mention.

England's head coach Stuart Lancaster and his staff are under siege, the post-mortems hitting overdrive. Robert Kitson, the Guardian's well-respected rugby correspondent, summed the mood up writing: "Michael Cheika...the Wallabies' tactician-in-chief has achieved a more spectacular on-field transformation in 12 months than England have managed in 12 years."

Ackford led the charge however, calling on England to outspend the opposition by lining up new Stormers coach Jones, the Aussie who masterminded Japan's humiliation of the Springboks, Ireland's whiz Schmidt, or Wales' rejuvenated Gatland.

Writing in The Times, Ackford stated: "If I were in charge of the Rugby Football Union, I would go to each of those men in turn, starting with Jones, and dangle some of the six million bonus pot England were to get for winning this World Cup and plead, yes, plead, with them to hop on board. Who cares if they are all contracted...buy them out. Money talks.

"The Welsh and Irish squads aren't better than England's. It's just that their coaches add greater value. There is a clearer vision, a chemistry that makes a difference."

His remedies included playing rugby in better weather by extending the junior season into June. He was among pundits who believed England should scrap the "ludicrous" rule preventing the selection of overseas-based players.

The Telegraph came up with a mere 13 English coaching candidates including South African Jake White, Aussie Ewen McKenzie, three Irishmen and Deans, although not with what could be called overwhelming conviction.

"He (Deans) may well relish the chance of restoring his reputation with another shot at a national team. Many felt that his style of man management was not suited to the temperaments of the Aussie squad at the time and would be far more successful with English players."

Former test flyhalf Stuart Barnes, in The Times, went against the grain, ripping England apart without mentioning one foreign coach.

"This team has gone round in circles," he said, without feeling the need to go around the world himself.