KEY POINTS:
Martin Johnson, World Cup-winning captain, looms large across England and New Zealand's rugby stage.
The most commanding skipper in England's history is being chased to manage his troubled national team, while, if reports are to be believed, he is also being courted with similar job offers from the
Blues and Crusaders.
Calls to those Super 14 franchises yesterday found amused reactions to a shadowy Daily Telegraph theory that both had Johnson on their hitlist. That arrangement, the newspaper suggested, could not be entirely discounted as Johnson's wife is a New Zealander and he had started his serious rugby career here.
"I'd love to talk to Martin if he wants to be part of us but I can't see that sort of thing happening," Blues CEO Andy Dalton chortled.
While any future link is unlikely, Johnson is being lined up to manage the England team which will play two tests in New Zealand in June.
Ireland are the All Blacks' first opponents on June 7 in Wellington and they are looking for a new coach to replace Eddie O'Sullivan who resigned at the end of his nation's poor Six Nations.
Contenders mentioned for that job are Jake White, who quit after leading the Springboks to last year's World Cup triumph, Munster coach Declan Kidney, Saracens rugby director Alan Gaffney, Australian high performance manager Pat Howard, All Blacks back coach Wayne Smith, and 2005 Wales Grand Slam coach Mike Ruddock.
While the Irish Rugby Union is mulling over those choices, England are heading towards a pivotal midweek board meeting which will decide the side's direction, managerial hierarchy and shape for the drive-by tour to New Zealand.
Elite rugby director Rob Andrew will table his report to the board as discontent continues to simmer about the coaching credentials of Brian Ashton and whether Johnson's inclusion would be a boost or too intimidating for the coach to bear.
Andrew has resisted previous pleas to include Johnson but late last week the pair met with reports that the 39-year-old former lock had been offered full licence to make sure England became a consistent threat in top-level rugby.
There were murmurs that Johnson was not convinced he would get uninhibited scope in selection, coaching and areas of team direction. He was not interested in taking on a standard manager's role.
Meanwhile Ashton made it clear he was keen to have a manager but favoured someone like Phil de Glanville who would deal with the administrative areas and keep clear of the coaching and selection portfolios. Ashton told colleagues after his Six Nations review that he is confident he will be on the tour of New Zealand.
But there are some RFU board members who decided there had to be change after England's shabby defeat to Scotland in the Six Nations. They remained undeterred despite England's final test rout of Ireland.
