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LONDON - Rob Andrew admits England need to stop dwelling on former glories if they want to become a force in world rugby again.
Since England lifted the World Cup in 2003 they have won just 12 tests and have suffered a miserable run of eight defeats in their last nine matches that culminated in Brian Ashton replacing Andy Robinson as head coach this week.
Andrew, England's elite rugby director, is adamant England can reverse their slide in time for next year's Six Nations Championship and the World Cup as long as they start focusing on the future.
"There has been a lot of looking back in terms of England," Andrew told BBC Radio Five Live. "2003 was one of those wonderful moments, but with all those wonderful moments - and it is a bit like The Ashes 18 months ago in cricket - if you keep looking back to those wonderful times, you actually forget to look forward and see where you are now.
"It is really important the England squad, the England management team and the England coaches on January 1 wake up and say 'right, we're off, let's get ready for Scotland on February 3'."
Andrew concedes that he must find a solution to the excessive demands being placed on England's players, who struggle to cope with their hectic schedules for club and country, before they can expect to emulate the World Cup success of Sir Clive Woodward's side.
He said: "We just have to find an improvement to our current structure. And it is not easy to unpick things as quickly as others looking from the outside who say 'it's crazy, why don't you just sort it out?'
"To put it in a nutshell, what we would like to do is ensure the top players are perhaps not playing as much rugby as they have to play in at the moment and are in the best physical and mental condition they can be to play international rugby."
- AFP
