Tuesday 1 December 2015 07:43, UK
Eddie Jones officially takes charge of England on Tuesday. Stuart Barnes identifies five key areas the head coach must prioritise in order to be a success...
Coaching team
The head coach's first focus is he must have his own team and it has to be a balance of expertise - coaches that he wants from anywhere in the world, and there's also a requirement for some Englishness, so you have some assimilation and understanding of the English way.
What happens to Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell? At the moment both of their positions look very tenuous. Rowntree has had a chequered career as a scrum coach but England's scrum was appalling at the World Cup, and whether it's Farrell's fault or not, he has been so closely linked to the selection of his own son in the days after the World Cup that I think it has tarnished his reputation. I don't think he'll survive that.
Those two, along with skills coach Mike Catt, came as a job lot and they'll go as one.
If there is an Englishman the new coach will look for it might be Paul Gustard, the Saracens defence coach. Thereafter, I think we'll be seeing southern hemisphere expertise.
Four-year plan
Whether you like it or not, if you're a rugby country the size of England the World Cup is your priority. What that means is England must have a strategic plan that makes sense, that's fluid and that the fans understand.
We got to the Six Nations in 2012 - Stuart Lancaster's first as England coach - and everyone was euphoric because England beat Scotland and Italy, even though they played terribly against terrible teams.
Lancaster was delighted because he felt it took the pressure off him, but what it was doing was wasting time. A strategic plan means England have to explain to their fans how performance leads on to results.
Fans need to understand that England could lose games but still be developing the team.
Performance is critical. Sometimes when you perform well, the results don't always come because development is part of it. It's how you get from performance with development to results; that's the continuity that England will need.
Lancaster made a virtue about talking how many young players he had without caps, but early on he didn't play in an expansive enough way to develop their game. Fans need to understand that England could lose games but still be developing the team.
Look at Australia. They came here one year before the World Cup and lost three out of four Tests. One year later, because their development was so good, not only did they win the Rugby Championship, they got to the World Cup final.
Fans and the media need to understand that, so some of the overwhelming, suffocating pressure is taken off the manager.
Overseas players
I would overturn the overseas ban. It is something that was created to help clubs and the wage salary.
The French don't have a salary cap and because of that, they can spend huge amounts of money on players like Steffon Armitage and Nick Abendanon, and it makes it difficult for English clubs to compete with them.
That's going to be changing a little bit as the English salary cap is rising, and we know there are teams who are pushing it all the way at the moment.
The first thing Michael Cheika did when he was appointed Australia head coach was to say he didn't want the overseas ban. He came up with his own formula to get rid of it and Toulon duo Drew Mitchell and Matt Giteau were both outstanding at the World Cup. That ban has to go.
Match priorities
The northern hemisphere is a long way behind the southern hemisphere. It normally is.
When the northern hemisphere had their one World Cup triumph under Clive Woodward, his recipe was to focus first and foremost on the autumn internationals against the big three of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. We now have to include Argentina as well because of the development they're making playing against the big three all the time.
In this hemisphere, we're obsessed with the little island mentality of the Six Nations, the rivalries between Wales and England. We've got to get over that. That is the second-tier tournament.
For England, playing the autumn internationals and the upcoming three-Test series in Australia are the priorities if they are to be able to compete with the best at Japan 2019.
Being competitive and coming second four times in a row in the Six Nations is one thing, being competitive against the best is quite another.
I'm not saying 'forget the Six Nations'. It's a great tournament and everyone loves it, but you have to accept it is more a case for development than the internationals against the big guns.
Captain question
Will Eddie Jones keep Chris Robshaw as captain? I think Chris is symptomatic of what has gone wrong with England.
He has been captain for four years and has struggled to make his place his own against the best as an openside. His captaincy under pressure has cracked horrendously.
Everything we criticise Stuart Lancaster for in terms of not being able to handle the pressure and not being quite good enough, the same applies to Robshaw.
He won't keep his place as an England openside and now that Lancaster is gone, I cannot see how he will remain as captain.
