RugbyHeaven | Wednesday, 12 March 2008
World Cup-winning Springboks coach Jake White is being lined up as a successor to Brian Ashton with the under-achieving England team, according to reports in the British media.
Ashton's future as coach of England, who will tour New Zealand for two matches in June, is now considered under real threat after his side sunk to defeats against Wales and Scotland in the Six Nations championship.
They went down 15-9 to the Scots in the latest round in a dismal encounter that has already seen Jonny Wilkinson lose his place in the flyhalf position.
England close their campaign with a home match against Ireland this weekend, but with a mid-table placing in prospect at best, it has left media in the UK speculating that Ashton will be replaced as head coach.
Ashton is on a one-year "rolling" contract with the RFU which, in essence, leaves him open to sacking at any time.
There had been widespread dissatisfaction over some of his methods during last year's World Cup but a dream run to the final saw the RFU bail out on any plans they may have had to replace him.
But the Guardian newspaper, among others in the UK, has begun speculation that Ashton is set for the axe and White will be brought in to replace him.
"Sources at the Rugby Football Union indicate the ruling body has run out of patience with England's one-dimensional rugby, the nadir of which was reached in the dismal defeat to Scotland," the newspaper reported.
The RFU is to begin a review of England's Six Nations campaign on Monday, following their final outing against the Irish, and the Guardian says an unfavourable finding for Ashton will see White immediately installed as the favourite to take over.
"Only a performance of stunning adventure at Twickenham will rescue the England coach's 15-month reign," said the newspaper's rugby writer.
White has been out of work since guiding the Boks on their post-World Cup tour of the UK last November. His name has already surfaced as a contender to coach the Lions to South Africa next year, but it is widely known that he covets the England job.
"They have a rugby culture and they have played in three World Cup finals out of six," he said recently. "They have a lot of things going for them." He has told confidants that England were one of the few international teams that he would consider taking charge of.
Former England hooker Brian Moore also said in his column in The Telegraph that he believed Ashton was a dead man walking.
"I suspect that Ashton's contract will not be renewed come what may," wrote Moore. "Jake White's convenient impression of Banquo's ghost suggests it is a done deal; thus England will fire a man for doing a job which no one else would take when they were in crisis, and for which he was not originally engaged."
The Times also weighed into the debate, suggesting that Ashton's continued employment as England coach was causing major rifts among players.
"The atmosphere of frustration and unrest in the England dressing-room is such that some players, from at least two clubs, are considering making themselves unavailable to play for their country next year," wrote Owen Slot.
"It is certainly a damning comment on life in Brian Ashton's England army.
"What we have is repeated evidence that Ashton is not capable of maintaining an elite environment in which international sportsmen can flourish," he added.
The England coach's days appear to be numbered. It only remains to be seen whether the equally bold stroke of appointing a South African to replace him will be made by the ultra-conservative RFU
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