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LONDON - England are unlikely to have a head coach in place for the start of the Six Nations championship next February according to Rugby Football Union (RFU) director of elite rugby Rob Andrew.
Andrew has ruled himself out of contention for the job which fell vacant on Thursday when Andy Robinson stepped down after England lost three of their four November internationals.
"If you are a betting man you would think it highly likely (nobody will be appointed)," Andrew told the BBC. "We have to take our time to get it right, that's the most important thing."
Former England and Lions captain Martin Johnson, who has been widely touted for the job by the British media, has also ruled himself out of contention.
"I have honestly got no plans to get back into rugby at the moment," Johnson told Rugby Times today.
"I am not going to walk into the dressing room and wave a magic wand. These things don't happen like that.
"If you want to be involved as a coach, fine, be involved as a coach," he added. "But I am not doing that at the moment. I am not coaching at any level.
"England have got guys in place there and they need to be given a little bit of time to try to get it done." England, who defend the World Cup in France next year, start their Six Nations campaign against Scotland on Feb. 3.
Three specialist coaches Brian Ashton (attack), John Wells (forwards) and Mike Ford (defence) remain in place.
RFU chief executive Francis Baron, who sacked three assistant coaches after this year's disappointing Six Nations campaign but left Robinson in charge, told the BBC he had no intention of resigning.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "I'm going to make sure that we get back on track. We know what we've got to do and we are going to get England back to being number one in the world again."
- REUTERS
