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LONDON - Brian Ashton was appointed England's rugby head coach today taking over from Andy Robinson with a mission to prepare the struggling side for the defence of their World Cup title.
The 60-year-old Ashton will assume his coaching duties with immediate effect, the English Rugby Football Union said.
His first game in charge of England, who next year defend their World Cup title in France, will be the Six Nations opener against Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday, February 3.
"It's a massive privilege and honour to be asked to do the job," Ashton said.
"I recognise the challenges ahead of us and along with the other coaches my focus now is to prepare the England team to play Scotland."
RFU elite rugby director Rob Andrew, who recommended Ashton for the role, played down suggestions the new coach was a 'stop-gap' appointment to take England through to the World Cup -- which starts in September -- and no further.
"Brian has been appointed the head coach of the England rugby team with immediate effect from today.
"There's no time limit on this appointment," former England first five-eighth Andrew said.
There had been suggestions that England, who have lost eight of their last nine games, would also appoint someone in a managerial role as Robinson had requested at the start of his time in charge.
But Andrew said he did not envisage making any further appointments to England's backroom staff: "We are not looking for anybody else at this moment in time."
Ashton was appointed England's attack coach in May and he will continue to work with forwards coach John Wells and defence coach Mike Ford, who came in alongside the former Ireland boss after the RFU dismissed the previous set of assistant coaches.
In all, Ashton will have 10 games before England launch their World Cup defence against the United States in Lens on September 8, with France (three times), Wales (twice), South Africa (twice), Ireland and Italy all on the agenda after the Scotland match.
Robinson was effectively sacked last month after presiding over 13 defeats in 22 internationals -- a run that left England a lowly seventh in the world rankings -- since he took over from his former boss, the World Cup-winning coach Sir Clive Woodward.
Several names were mentioned as possible replacements for Robinson, including former Springbok coach Nick Mallett and New Zealander Warren Gatland, as well as Harlequins boss Dean Richards, but the RFU have opted for continuity as they seek to avert England's alarming slump which includes three defeats in their last four tests, all at Twickenham, in November.
Andrew added of Ashton: "He has enormous respect with the players and he has massive international and club experience. This coaching team have only been together since May and I believe Brian is the right man to lead the coaches and players into a new period for English rugby."
Ashton started his senior coaching career with Bath in 1989 as backs coach under then manager Jack Rowell where he gained a reputation for encouraging attacking rugby.
After Rowell became England manager, Ashton became Bath head coach. He then had a brief spell in charge of Ireland - where the team won just two out of nine matches -- before joining England as assistant coach in 1998.
Working alongside Woodward, Ashton was praised for developing a team that played some of the most exciting rugby seen by an England side for several seasons.
However, Ashton stepped down in 2002 to take up the new role of RFU National Academy Manager where he helped develop the careers of a number of current England internationals.
He returned to Bath in January this year and guided them to the European Cup semifinal in April before rejoining England in May ahead of their two-test tour of Australia.
- AFP
