If England are thinking what was once considered unthinkable, namely
replacing Andy Robinson as head coach, they will have to act quickly or
not at all. He was promoted not only to fill Sir Clive Woodward's shoes
but to walk the line that won England the World Cup in Australia in
2003.
Robinson's
contract, which expires in June 2008, was designed to give England
continuity going into next year's global showpiece but he may not last
that long. The case against is that his Six Nations record - the
no-show against France in Paris was the seventh defeat in 14 matches in
Europe since the World Cup and the heaviest in the championship for 20
years - is so scratched it is unplayable. And that may be unpalatable
to the Rugby Football Union, who are busy investing in the
redevelopment of Twickenham.
It was the shocking manner of England's decline against the French
that had the inevitable effect of nudging Robinson closer to the
trapdoor. The 31-6 defeat raised questions about Robinson's leadership
and judgement. It wasn't just that Les Rosbifs were beaten, they were
demolished with horse-radish and Yorkshire pudding.
This time last year Robinson was complaining about being on the
receiving end of a series of one-eyed refereeing decisions and he
pointed out, with some justification, that but for the rub of the green
narrow defeats to Wales, France and Ireland could easily have been
victories.
Even after the 18-12 overture of defeat by Scotland last month he
claimed that England had created eight try-scoring opportunities and
squandered the lot. After the retreat from Paris Robinson, for the
first time, had no excuses. He was in a state of shock. "We were
awful," he said, "and as the person in charge it is important I take
responsibility. This was our worst performance since I've been
involved. It tests your thought processes."
After Robinson joined as forwards coach in 2000, England won 41 of
their next 50 matches, a fantastic record which made them the Tiger
Woods of the world rankings. Now they are in a state of the union with
which they are wholly unfamiliar. They were tryless against Scotland
and France, prompting wholesale changes for yesterday's match against
Ireland.
He had already been guilty of suspect selections and the recall of
Matt Dawson, who was dropped from the élite player squad two years ago
for putting the BBC's A Question of Sport ahead of training, has not
been a success. Last week Dawson, asked on Radio Five Live if Robinson
needed to take a good long look at himself, replied in the affirmative.
Twelve months ago Francis Baron, chief executive of the RFU, gave
his unqualified backing to the coach. There was a subtle difference
last week when he appeared at England's training HQ and declared:
"Everyone is subject to an annual review from myself down and we are
expected to meet performance targets. The way to move forward is to
stick to the established process, make analytical, logical and
businesslike decisions and report back to the management board. In the
short term failure does not affect our commercial programme. In the
long term it does. You can't underperform continually and expect loyal
supporters to keep spending their money."
When Robinson was promoted, voted unanimously for the job by by a
four man panel, three former captains in Fran Cotton, Bill Beaumont and
John Spencer and the performance director Chris Spice, he was described
as a "passionate Englishman and a winner".
He is not wholly to blame for what has happened. Yes, he has made
mistakes and the Lawrence Dallaglio distraction has been damaging, but
the mix with England has never looked right since the departure of the
backs coach Brian Ashton. It meant that Robinson had to work with two
former rugby league men in Joe Lydon and Phil Larder and the
partnership clearly has not worked. Lydon's philosophy was for the
players to have "supreme, collective self-belief". "I want to remove
all restrictions and set them free." Yet they have never looked more
shackled.
Another factor is the intensity of the Guinness Premiership itself.
It is remorseless in its professional competition but that does not
necessarily produce the type of play, or the type of threequarter, that
Lydon dreams of. Conversely, the fitness and strength that are required
for the weekly forward battles are deemed to explain the renaissance
of, for example, Raphael Ibañez, Wasps' French hooker.
An aberration in the ramshackle performance against the French was
the collapse of Charlie Hodgson. Last season he missed three
short-range penalties at Twickenham as England saw a 17-6 lead turn
into an 18-17 victory for France. His confidence seems fragile to the
point of non-existence when things go wrong. Philippe Saint-André,
Hodgson's coach at Sale, has the task of "mending" the stand-off, who
had given the impression of finally emerging from the shadowlands
created by the injuries to Jonny Wilkinson.
Robinson's first decision as head coach was to appoint Wilkinson as
his captain, so he hasn't had much luck there either. At the time
Wilkinson said: "I'm thrilled Andy is in charge. He commands the
respect of the players on the pitch and in the changing room. He's an
outstanding coach and an incredible leader." If Robinson is good enough
for Wilkinson he should be good enough for England.
It may be that like Scott Johnson at Wales Robinson is more
comfortable working in a tracksuit, out in the middle with the players,
than conducting press conferences. He is ferociously honest and takes
defeat more personally than Sir Clive - and the knight detested every
rare moment of it. Robinson looked isolated, almost bereft, at the
Stade de France.
I would not get rid of him but England could ease the pressure by
appointing a team manager (Dean Richards or John Wells?), a move
favoured by Martyn Thomas, the RFU chairman. The task is certainly big
enough but whatever England decide it should be in place before they
travel to Australia in the summer. The Wallabies do not tolerate defeat
either. Remember Eddie Jones, the coach of the World Cup finalists?
He's now a consultant at Saracens.
"When things go wrong the first thing I do is look at myself,"
Robinson said. "I believe we have quality people working on this
project which is why defeats such as in Paris are such a
disappointment. I didn't expect that. What I do expect is the flak to
start flying. It's human nature."
