England's scrum-half Danny Care clears the ball as Richie McCaw tries to block during an England-All Blacks games in November 2014. Photo / Getty Images
England's scrum-half Danny Care clears the ball as Richie McCaw tries to block during an England-All Blacks games in November 2014. Photo / Getty Images
England's besieged Rugby Football Union is being urged to go after Richie McCaw and Ian Foster to rescue them from international oblivion.
In a high-profile column appearing in The Times of London today, former England and British and Irish Lions five-eighth Stuart Barnes called upon England's kingmakers to replace current coach Stu Lancaster with a "a Kiwi head coach and sign up Richie McCaw as staff".
Barnes, also a prominent television commentator, wrote that All Blacks coach Steve Hansen had already provided England's solution.
"When one of the world's best coaches, of the world's best teams, offers advice to the downtrodden second-tier hemisphere we ignore it," he wrote (behind a paywall). "No wonder the southern hemisphere continues to dominate.
"Steve Hansen made a valid point regarding the state of the international game in this hemisphere. 'If you want to be successful at international level you have to be united from the top down,' he said. Clearly that is not the case in France. Relations between club and country are dreadful.
"In New Zealand the game, as Hansen reiterated, is run in the interests of international rugby. Hansen controls his players. Stuart Lancaster does not. In the end the clubs' determination to block the inflationary fees that an open market in France entailed, drove the decision not to select players based overseas.
"England entered the World Cup with a head coach too weak to tell the RFU and the clubs that this was an exceptional circumstance and he needed to pick Steffon Armitage, the Toulon flanker."
Barnes wrote that the RFU's solution was staring it in the face.
"New Zealanders are doing their bit for the international game. Their coaches are everywhere. New Zealand rugby needs competition. The sport will become boring if the All Blacks win-loss ratio remains at about 20-1.
Barnes says England should go after McCaw and All Blacks Assistant Coach Ian Foster, centre. Photo / Getty Images
"The decision on the next head coach is straightforward. It has to be a Kiwi. It would be ideal to venture deep into the belly of the All Black beast and come up with one of their biggest fish. Wayne Smith is frequently mentioned."
Indeed Lancaster stated his failure to sign the All Blacks multi-purpose coach as the biggest regret of his four-year tenure. The statement was an inadvertent indictment of England's inexperienced management group.
"Smith was reluctant last time but if Hansen stays at the head of a juggernaut rolling towards Japan in 2019, perhaps New Zealand would be as good as to "loan" Ian Foster, their assistant coach. Foster was head coach with the Chiefs for many years before he unleashed the attacking game we saw last Saturday in Cardiff upon the world.
"Why leave New Zealand for England? The challenge (that is beyond dispute), maybe the money and maybe the opportunity to cut his teeth in the northern hemisphere before one day heading back to the No 1 New Zealand job as Graham Henry and Hansen have done."
Barnes said if England could "get Foster", England might also "catch another Kiwi, the most audacious signing in their history".
"What price allowing Richie McCaw to lift the Webb Ellis Cup and enjoy a few weeks off before putting the question to him? Would he like to be England's breakdown coach whenever he retires? The bloke knows more about what goes on in there than any man alive not to mention the component parts of what makes a great team and great captain."
Barnes wrote that McCaw had a greater understanding of what makes a great team "than any player who has lived".
"England lack a great captain. McCaw is as great a captain as has lived. They lack expertise at the breakdown. What England need is the nerve and ambition to seek out men of the calibre of Foster, McCaw and (Welsh assistant coach and former league star Shaun) Edwards. Thanks very much but the (club) Premiership has next to no expertise set against these titans of the game.
"The game in England is too far behind the New Zealand model to do anything other than seek some friendly Kiwi advice.
"If McCaw could be persuaded to head north when he finally retires (even he can't make 2019) with a rewarding contract and new challenge then the country would be galvanised.
"England need to shed their ego and face reality. They have lost their way. Who better to put them back on course than the world's greatest flanker?"
