Robinson wields knife after escaping the axe himself

Much to his horror on the morning of the long knives, Andy Robinson found himself wielding the blade.

England's head coach, the one significant survivor of the English union's brutal post-Six Nations cull, was charged yesterday with the task of telling two of his closest allies - the defence technician Phil Larder and the kicking specialist Dave Alred - that their jobs had disappeared, and that Joe Lydon, the much-criticised backs coach, had been demoted.

It was, by a very long way, the most unpleasant few hours of his professional career. What made the pain even more intense were suggestions, some of them in print, that he had saved his own skin by turning on his own. "Those aspersions are very unfair - grossly unfair," said Martyn Thomas, the chairman of the union's management board.

"Andy is an honest man, a sincere man, and he speaks from the heart. He is immensely loyal, and is deeply upset by what has happened.

"What came across most clearly as we went through this review process is the great confidence in him by the England players. That was very important."

Robinson will lead the world champions to Australia for tests in Sydney and Melbourne, accompanied by what chief executive Francis Baron described as "a leaner, meaner" senior back-room team of three: a forwards coach, an attacking coach and a defence coach.

Baron confirmed that while these posts would be advertised, he expected appointments to be made within days. Barring an unforeseen hitch, Brian Ashton of Bath will be the new attacking strategist. John Wells, the former Leicester coach, will work with the pack, while Mike Ford of Saracens is favourite for the defence role.

In total, nine full-time employees have either resigned or been sacked, including performance director Chris Spice, who felt Robinson should have been held more accountable for the recent failures, and quit when he saw the tide of argument turning against him.

Spice's hand may have been forced anyway, for the union intends to incorporate the England operation into a beefed-up performance department, headed by a director of elite rugby - the most powerful single position ever sanctioned by the Twickenham grandees.

The director will have the widest of briefs, overseeing the sports science department as well as the national academy and age-group teams. But it is the union's intention to grant him a major role with the test side that means Robinson's influence will eventually be diluted.

Baron said the search for the right man would be conducted globally, and that candidates would be in single figures. Inevitably, Sir Clive Woodward will be seen as an early front-runner. He has privately declared his interest in the role and has a strong supporter in Thomas, to set against the many enemies he made in quitting as England coach in a fury 20 months ago.

But other names were quickly in circulation yesterday: Dean Richards and Rob Andrew from the high priesthood of English rugby; Eddie Jones, the former Wallaby coach currently working with Saracens; Waikato coach Warren Gatland, who performed such startling deeds with Wasps before returning home last year; and, most intriguingly, Nick Mallett, the remarkable South African polymath who made the Springboks the best team in the world in the late 1990s.

Baron said it was intended to cut all unnecessary expenditure.

"We have become lax in a number of areas since winning the World Cup in 2003," he added.

- INDEPENDENT