The likes of South African Jake White, New Zealander Wayne Smith and Australian Eddie Jones are among those being touted to take over from Lancaster, who relinquished his role on Wednesday following England’s failed World Cup campaign.
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The RFU chief executive said the decision to dispense with Lancaster, who only past year was given a new contract taking him and his assistants to beyond the 2019 World Cup in Japan, had been taken after consultation with 59 people closely involved with the England team, including the players.
England could install a foreign head coach for the first time, with Ian Ritchie vowing to lead the hunt to replace Stuart Lancaster.
However when asked about the England job, Jones said, “never believe what you read in the papers mate, I am wholly committed to the Stormers”.
“Since I finished with the Springboks I have always made it clear I have a burning desire to win another World Cup”, said White after his Montpellier side crashed to 41-18 at Harlequins.
This is a fantastic city, and Western Province is one of the most prestigious unions in world rugby.
Former England head coach Clive Woodward has accused the Rugby Football Union (RFU) of using Stuart Lancaster as a scapegoat for the country’s World Cup failure.
“For a new head coach, it’s very hard for the previous head coach to be sitting there within the organisation…We felt it was right to make a clean break”.
“Instead we find ourselves in the same position as we did four years ago when Martin Johnson stepped down having accepted the blame for a poor World Cup campaign in New Zealand”.
“If the RFU thinks I am the man for the job and there wasn’t going to be any rigmarole of going through the whole process which I have before then I would be a contender”.
He said any switch from Wales to England was not on his radar but media outlets in the United Kingdom continue to spout the theory that money will persuade Gatland to change his mind.
The right man must have “international experience” according to Ritchie which rules out appointing an English-bred coach with Woodward not being considered. “A sleeping giant as England are, they’ve got all the resources, the history, the tradition”, he told Sky Sports.
“Stuart was kind enough to allow me a day with him earlier this year, to visit him and talk about coaching, and he shared a lot of stuff that he had learned”.
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Ideally, the organisation want a coach with “international experience”, but with Schmidt ruling himself out of the running already, they’re starting to consider their back-up options after Lancaster departed the role on Tuesday.
