By Mitch Phillips
LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) – Interim national rugby coach
Stuart Lancaster has “dragged England out of the gutter” and
should be given the job on a permanent basis, his assistant
Graham Rowntree said on Tuesday.
Lancaster will be interviewed for the full-time role this
week having led England to second place in the Six Nations
championship with four wins, including three on the road.
His chief rival appears to be former South Africa and Italy
coach Nick Mallett but scrum coach Rowntree said Lancaster had
already done enough to secure the job, not least in restoring
the team’s morale and reputation after the depressing World Cup
last year.
“Stuart has dragged us out of the gutter and deserves all the
credit he is going to get,” Rowntree told reporters at a Six
Nations debrief at Twickenham.
“We failed (at the World Cup) and the whole leaked-reports
business was messy. That was only a few weeks ago but we’ve come
light years in a short time.”
England returned from the World Cup with their reputation
shattered after a series of unedifying incidents off the pitch
and some uninspired performances on it, culminating in a
quarter-final defeat by Italy.
A series of “confidential” reports were then leaked to the
media, exposing internal divisions and a lack of faith in the
coaching team led by Martin Johnson, who resigned soon
afterwards.
“A lot has been said about the (new) environment and the
players have genuinely bought into that and delivered. They’ve
created that environment on the back of Stuart’s culture,”
Rowntree said.
Continued…
