Allan Massie: ‘Twickenham today makes SRU over last 15 years look good’

THE leak of these confidential reports relating to England’s World Cup campaign makes it pretty certain that Martin Johnson would have had to go now, if he hadn’t already stepped down. Yet England might have been better to keep him.

As everyone knows, he was appointed without coaching and managerial experience because of his outstanding record as a player and captain of both England and the Lions. His time in the job wasn’t an out-and-out failure, unless you are one of those who labour under the delusion that England should always reach the RWC final at the very least. Last season, England won the Six Nations for the first time since Johnson himself was their captain. Over the year they won ten matches and lost three; not a bad record. Even in New Zealand their defence was good – despite players’ criticisms of the defence coach, Mike Ford.

I have no doubt that if Johnson had been persuaded to stay and his contract had been renewed he would have learned from his mistakes and been more successful second time round – just as Andy Robinson is doing better with Scotland than he did in charge of England.

Consider Graham Henry, sitting today on top of the world. No doubt he deserves the high esteem in which he is now held. He wasn’t always so well regarded. In Wales, he was first hailed as “the Great Redeemer”, but it wasn’t long before people were happy to show him the door. He failed as the Lions’ coach in Australia in 2001. He was the All Blacks’ coach when they were knocked out of the 2007 World Cup by France at the quarter-final stage – just as England were this time. New Zealand stuck by him and their faith has been rewarded. The lessons learned from past failures surely contributed to Henry’s subsequent success.

There are suggestions that the supposedly confidential reports were leaked to the Press by someone at Twickenham who wants to see the return of Sir Clive Woodward. This may be so or may not. Certainly the Woodward bandwagon is rolling again. The message seems to be that the way forward is to step back. Woodward has now been out of rugby for six years, ever since his disastrous management of the Lions in 2005. The game has moved on, but, in the eyes of many in England – in the media and at Twickenham – he remains the king over the water: “Will ye no‘ come back again”, and wave your magic wand?

It sounds like wishful thinking. Woodward, after a stumbling start, which saw England out of the 1999 World Cup at – guess what? – the quarter-final stage, had great success with an outstanding set of players. His organisation was good and he appointed good coaches, notably Robinson. But the simple fact is that England had better players in 2003 than they have now. How many of the team Johnson coached would have got into the one he led? Two? One? None?

There is a simple truth, often forgotten. A coach is only as good as his players. Silk purses are not made out of sows’ ears. It is quite evident, as Tom English wrote in The Scotsman on Thursday, that the present bunch of English players are not half as good as they think they are. Johnson has been criticised for inconsistency in selection. There is doubtless some justice in the charge. Yet selection is usually consistent only when a team is winning consistently. Once it starts losing, the temptation to chop and change is strong – and those who call most loudly for changes are the supporters and the media.

Now Johnson has walked the plank and the RFU is in a state of utter confusion; the standard comparison with headless chickens is a bit rough on the chickens. Twickenham today makes the SRU over the last 15 years look good. That’s how bad things are down there. It’s a brave man who enters the RFU headquarters without wearing body armour.

Despite everything, there are lots of good players available to whoever is handed the job as coach/manager. Two or three of them might get into a Lions XV if it was to be chosen now. A centre with a creative spark would do much to transform the team. We shouldn’t assume that the mess and confusion mean that England won’t still be formidable in the Six Nations. They will certainly take some beating.

Meanwhile, things were looking up here, and seemed brighter than for a long time, at least until Glasgow subsided so feebly in the first half against Leinster last Sunday. It was depressing to see them being bullied and overwhelmed at the breakdown. Edinburgh, on the other hand, have given themselves a chance, such as they haven’t had since season 2003-4, of reaching the quarter-final of the Heineken Cup. The two games against Cardiff Blues will be the most important they have played in years. One would have to say that Cardiff are still favourites to top the pool, partly because Welsh rugby is in the ascendant. Even coming second in the pool would be a good result for Edinburgh, and would get them into the later stages of the Amlin Challenge Cup – a tournament they would have a real chance of winning.

Meanwhile, back on league duty, they face a stiff test this weekend in Limerick. Munster are going well again, managing, like Leinster, and indeed Ireland, gradually to refresh an ageing team. Moreover, they are still the best side in Europe in the dying minutes of a match, whether holding on to a narrow lead or setting up you know who to drop a winning goal.