I've been following this for a few weeks now with great interest.
England’s declined has been evident since the World Cup Final in '03. They won the trophy with group of players reaching their peak at the same time. Immediately after the World Cup they should have gotten rid of the deadwood, and started building towards '07 campaign. But they didn't. The journey men stayed and the rest of the world caught up... and passed them by. Now England are paying because they are 10months away from a world cup defence which all but looks over before it starts.
The RFU have to shoulder most of the blame. They had an internal review after the 6 Nations back in March and got rid of Robinsons' backroom staff and replaced the whole lot of them. As well as this they brought someone in to work above Andy Robinson (Technical Director of Elite Rugby: Rob Andrew), although they claim he works along side Robbo. If ever there was a time to get rid of Robinson it was back in March... not now, 10 months away from a world cup. The appointment of Rob Andrew seriously undermines Robinsons position since I don't think the players actually know who they're playing for half of the time. By sacking his whole backroom staff they (The RFU) more or less guaranteed Robinson his job until the end of the World Cup. So to sack him now would be too little too late.
England now have to find a coach to take this side through a tough 6 Nations campaign beginning in March through to the World Cup in October. I see the RFU want Martin Johnson... If they appoint him then I really want to know what their taking. Johnson has NO experience at all of coaching at club level, let alone international level... it would be a disaster waiting to happened (Although from a Welsh point of view that wouldn't be so bad! lol).
In my view they should either appoint Rob Andrew as the full England coach, so everyone will stop questioning what his actual role is. Or appoint someone like Nick Mallett or Warren Gatland, who both have proven international credentials.
But as a Welshman I want Robbo to keep his job
