Stuart Lancaster dragged England ‘out of gutter’

GRAHAM Rowntree has sent a strong and impassioned message to the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive Ian Ritchie that Stuart Lancaster must be appointed England’s full-time head coach.

Speaking in a room just one floor below Ritchie’s office in Twickenham’s south stand yesterday, Rowntree credited Lancaster with dragging English rugby “out of the gutter” during his reign as interim head coach.

When England returned from their disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign in New Zealand, of which Rowntree was a part, they skulked unloved and unrespected out of a back door at Heathrow Airport. On Saturday, Lancaster’s new-look England thumped Ireland 30-9 to claim second place in the RBS Six Nations championship and they received a standing ovation from the 82,000-strong Twickenham crowd. The RFU is due to interview their short-listed candidates for the job of Martin Johnson’s permanent successor in the coming days, with the experienced Nick Mallett thought to also be a leading contender. But forwards coach Rowntree wants Lancaster to stay in charge and for the RFU to recruit Andy Farrell, his other lieutenant, from Saracens on a permanent basis.

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“Stuart has dragged us out the gutter,” Rowntree said. “We had failed (in New Zealand), the whole leaked reports business was messy. That was only a matter of weeks ago but we have come light years in that time. You can’t argue with what he has done with this group culturally and performance-wise. You can’t argue with that as the perfect interview.

“I don’t want anything to change. I understand Andy’s position (with Saracens, where he is under contract) and I admire his loyalty. I would love everything to remain as it is. There is a load more to come from this group of players and I am dying to work with them again.”

Ritchie has insisted throughout the recruitment process that the new England head coach would not be appointed based on Six Nations results alone.Lancaster delivered on the field but he will also argue to the interview panel that he has created the foundations for England to begin building towards the home World Cup in 2015. And he hinted that his proposal to the RFU’s interview panel would be to retain his tight-knit senior management team of Rowntree and Farrell.

“When I was given the role I was asked to present my vision for what would happen during the Six Nations,” Lancaster said. “For me it was about building foundations. The foundations have been built and we have a good place to go from. I now have to convince the interview panel I am the right person for the job.

“I will be making my thoughts clear to the panel who I think the coaching team should be. I want to be able to try to explain how I feel the chemistry has worked well in its current format.

“There is no doubt about it, the chemistry between myself, Andy and Graham has been fantastic. I couldn’t have picked two better guys to have either side of me. We feel we made progress. I think performances have shown that.”

Lancaster’s first task when he took charge was to establish a new culture of pride, respect and commitment to the jersey. “I’ll give you a good example of the spirit in the team,” Rowntree said, making Lancaster blush next to him. “On Saturday night we went back to the hotel and had a cracking night but it was tinged with real sadness because we all felt an emotional journey was coming to an end. I have never experienced that before, I have always been ready for home. To create that environment so quickly is special.”