Rugby: Chaos won't affect England

England manager Martin Johnson says his players are ignoring internal upheaval at the RFU and concentrating on their World Cup preparations. Photo / Getty Images

England manager Martin Johnson has dismissed the internal chaos at the Rugby Football Union as a potential disruption to his side's World Cup preparations.

The former England and Lions captain says the turmoil that has left the union without a chief executive and with bitter in-fighting has not filtered to the players. Because the ructions have taken place so close to the World Cup, all the arrangements are locked in and won't be affected.

"If it was 18 months ago and we were wanting to make big decisions, maybe it would have," Johnson told the Evening Standard.

"Two years ago would have been harder because we may have been looking for some new players. But everything's in place in terms of our preparation. We're set up here.

"The last four weeks have just flown by. Next week is the last of our training camp and then we're into warm-up games."

Problems began within the England administration two months ago when the RFU board decided to sack chief executive John Steele. That decision was made because the board said they had lost confidence in Steele, the former Northampton director of rugby who had been in the post only six months.

Steele had been taken on with a brief to restructure the organisation and specifically hire a high performance director. Once Steele began the restructuring, it became apparent to him that there were some board members who were adamant that Sir Clive Woodward was the only choice for the newly created post.

Despite his abject failure with the British Lions in 2005 and scurrying off for an ill-fated flirtation with football, there remain some in the corridors of power who are convinced England need to bring back Woodward. But Steele, reluctant to be backed into a corner, withdrew the original job description after it had been made public. A day later, the job was re-advertised but this time made specific reference to the fact the post would not have any jurisdiction over the national team.

Woodward publicly ruled himself out at that point and for weeks there was confusion as to whether anyone would be appointed. The situation became more confused when the board announced they had lost confidence in Steele and removed him from his post.

RFU chairman Martyn Thomas slipped into act as interim chief executive and said that judge Jeff Blackett had been asked to conduct a full review of the Steele affair.

Blackett produced a hard-hitting document that was highly critical of the board and Thomas in particular - making the recommendation they should be removed from office. Thomas has stood down as acting chairman but remains the acting chief executive.

A special meeting at an as yet unspecified date will determine the longer term fate of Thomas and the board. Despite the obvious need for the situation to be sorted out, agreement has been reached that it would be in the best interests of the team's preparations to leave any major hiring or restructuring until after the World Cup.

"We're off in five weeks," said Johnson. "We'll be on the plane before we know it. It is really far removed from the players, it doesn't affect them.

"It's not going on at their club, to whom they're contracted. They come and play for England, so they're just getting on with what they do.

"They want to get in the World Cup squad, they want to get better as players. Their concerns are: what am I doing today, what's the training, what's for dinner?

"I doubt if there's been any huge discussions about it. It would have been the same in any team I've played in."