Jeff Probyn: Dean Richards is the man for me to revive England fortunes

Well, I suppose it was inevitable, especially after the expected back-stabbing from within his squad, Stuart Lancaster has chosen to fall on his sword before the RFU review reached its conclusion and even more negative comments were revealed. I have to say that I thought he would tough it out and stay, but I think the criticism from within was something he wasn’t expecting.
The sense of betrayal he must feel from a group of players that he believed had bought into what was a cultural change for an England squad, must be immense. Not just the players, but also
a number Premiership coaches who couldn’t wait to berate him for not picking their players, as if that alone was the reason for England’s demise!
Following a number of articles (including mine) suggesting that Premiership rugby doesn’t prepare players for the international game, the Premiership coaches have come out fighting, defending not just the club game, but its development of players.
Jim Mallinder and Richard Cockerill, two senior Premiership coaches, publically rebuked Lancaster for not picking Manu Tuilagi and Dylan Hartley, despite both acknowledging that the players had been ‘masters of their own misfortune’. While I respect Mallinder (in fact I think he should be on the short list as Lancaster’s replacement) and Cockers, their public outburst put extra pressure on the review panel and also Lancaster. Some may say that those coaches are right to voice concerns at the treatment of their players, and yet it wasn’t that long ago that Mallinder accepted Hartley had
discipline issues he was trying to address, and Cockrill asked Manu’s elder brothers to ‘keep an eye on him’.
Then there is the simple fact that everybody seems to have forgotten:
Lancaster was brought in to rebuild the England rugby brand, not just the team, after it had been severely damaged post 2011 and in that at least, he has succeeded. Another player to let Lancaster down was Sam Burgess who, as Bath coach Mike Ford said, ‘didn’t have the stomach to stay and fight for his place in Union’ despite Lancaster giving him an extraordinary opportunity to learn on the job.
I always said that Burgess had the potential to be a good Union player, but was rushed too soon into the England side. But, given that opportunity and the experience of being part of the World Cup, his return to Australia and League must have made Lancaster and his management team question their judgement.
In the time since England’s exit from the RWC there has been a continual call for Lancaster to step down, rightly or wrongly. What has to be remembered is that we are talking about a man’s job – and others’. It is likely that any new head coach would want to bring in his own coaching team, leaving Graham Rowntree, Mike Catt and Andy Farrell in a precarious position. Lancaster has gone and will now fade from the chaos and confusion that his exit will create as the RFU desperately try to find the ‘right’ man for the job, which is far harder than you may think.
Despite the hand-wringing and criticism of England’s RWC efforts, let’s not forget that ALL the Northern Hemisphere teams failed, so looking at their coaches as possible Lancaster replacements seems a strange decision to me.
The list of available coaches may be long and exalted, but will they be the long-term answer to England’s prayers, especially if every time we have a disappointment, ‘heads roll’?  As much as RFU CEO Ian Ritche proclaims that finding the right man is paramount, getting him may not be as easy as people think.
Back in 1997 when the RFU were looking to replace Jack Rowell as England manger, they had an equally impressive seven-man list of English and foreign coaches as a potential replacement.
However, after interviews with the applicants and their various employers, the RFU were left with little choice but to appoint a coach who was not even on the seven-man list.
He had no senior representative coaching experience, but had coached for a short while in Australia and then at a grassroots club in England before having a short spell at a Premiership club. The eighth choice coach was Clive Woodward who then went on to be England’s World Cup winning coach – but since and despite that win, England have not succeeded in building a system that has bought continued success.
To this date, the only man to lead England for a period of sustained success as a manager/head coach is Geoff Cooke. Geoff was appointed at the end of 1987 with his first squad in 1988. They won back-to-back Grand Slams in ’91 and ’92 (something not achieved by any of the other home nation since the war), and reached a World Cup Final in 1991.
The Five Nations never had a league champion, so you either won a Grand Slam or nothing, but if there had been a league-style system, England would have finished first or second every year that Cooke was at the helm.
If England want long-term success, they must not make a short-term choice of a foreign coach to get results today.  Only an English coach brought up in our game with all its pitfalls and politics can build the structure that will see England become the power in the sport they should be.
My list of possible England candidates are; Mallinder, Baxter, O’Shea, Diamond, and the name that must not be mentioned, Dean Richards – and he would definitely be my choice.