Robinson ejected but problems remain

RUGBY:Even as the English Rugby Football Union pressed the button on the ejector seat containing Andy Robinson, no one at Twickenham pretended the departing head coach was responsible for all its problems. It is not Robinson's fault alone that English rugby is in such a hole and his erstwhile superior Rob Andrew knows it.

It cannot be denied that Robinson made selection errors, failed to inspire his players and generally struggled to escape from the giant shadow cast by his predecessor, Clive Woodward.

But anyone with an ounce of insight knew he was being asked to make the best of a bad job. As Andrew outlined the scale of the clean-up operation yesterday, it was a bit like listening to a worried coastguard describing a potentially devastating oil slick.

The truth is that Andrew faces an immense battle on two fronts. The first is to find someone capable of reviving a team who have hurtled down the world rankings from first to seventh in only three years. The second is to find a way through the glutinous politics which has left England mired in mediocrity and, as a direct consequence, has cost a small fortune in compensation to highly qualified former employees. Right to the bitter end Robinson refused to resign; Andrew spoke yesterday only of "an agreed termination".

As to who might be drafted in, Andrew hinted last night that a managerial figure might be more feasible but he has to make up his mind before he presents a report to Club England a week today.

"There are complications in whichever direction we go in terms of who might or might not be available or want the job. It's very urgent but we're not going to be rushed into decisions."

What about slipping into Robinson's tracksuit temporarily himself? "That is not part of the thinking. I don't expect that to be the case." Nor would he categorically say the three assistants - Brian Ashton, John Wells and Mike Ford - were safe despite their being in the jobs six months.

"In a hypothetical world that is a possibility," he said, asked if a new man might want a different backroom team. Even the RFU realises, though, that a period of stability is needed.

"We want to calm everything down over the next few months. From a management point of view we've had enough upheaval and we probably want to avoid any more. We now have to take our time and reflect on what is required next in the context of the rest of this season, the World Cup and beyond."

It is the bigger picture which really matters. Francis Baron, the RFU's chief executive, was conspicuous by his absence from yesterday's briefing and it is now Andrew who must lead the way in striking a deal with the Premiership clubs. "Over the past three months the RFU has been working particularly hard on proposals to effect structural change," he confirmed yesterday. "Those proposals will probably be available in the early part of next year but it's clear we have been left behind in England.

"There is a fundamental problem in the current management of elite players which has been highlighted by what other countries, particularly Ireland and Wales, are doing. The skill is finding a long-term solution."

Either way, the RFU felt it had no option but to jettison Robinson. Although it was a lingering death - over 90 hours elapsed after the Springbok game before the RFU finally released the news - eight defeats in the last nine Tests were not the only determining factor.

Surely, someone asked, Andrew was partly implicated as a co-selector. Apparently not. "Often after selection meetings the team wasn't finalised until Andy had decided on various areas the next day."

Andrew, self-evidently, is a nifty political operator. He will have to be niftier than ever in the coming weeks and months.