I'm suprised this hasn't been done yet.  Englands head coach - should he stay or go?

I don't know if its his fault England are in the doldrums at the moment. But yeah, its been coming since at least this year's six nations.
 
They really need to sort out the season structure to combat player burnout, and not just in England. Case in point is the anglo-welsh cup, I've really enjoyed the prospect of Welsh teams raiding the English trophy cabinet but it adds an extra bunch of games to an already stuffed fixture list.
 
Oh yeah, £5 says England will 'win' the wooden spoon at the six nations next year!

[8D]

I don't think we'll be getting the wooden spoon.  And the Irish will probably whop everyones ass.

The trouble with Andy Robinson is he has seemed to stick with the same in-effectual team selections time and time again - relying on big names that have been off form rather than take a chance with those that have been on form.  Charlie Hodgson being my point in question - I've never rated the guy that much at international level.
 
I don't think season structure has too much to do with Englands performance - the amount of games in each season is pretty much part of the game these days, most teams now have a large enough squad to cope with the additional games.

As Martin Johnson said in the press after the last England game - the buck has to stop at the head coach.

Win or lose, I think Saturdays game against the Springboks will be Robinsons last game in charge.

Long may he stay I say!

ORIGINAL: suicide_messiah

Long may he stay I say!

Shush, you scallywag [8D]

ORIGINAL: S8N 666

The trouble with Andy Robinson is he has seemed to stick with the same in-effectual team selections time and time again - relying on big names that have been off form rather than take a chance with those that have been on form.  Charlie Hodgson being my point in question - I've never rated the guy that much at international level.

Yea, exactly. Hodgson has his good games, but is average at best. When Andy Goode came on against S. Africa, the way England played changed, because he's on better form and a better player. His confidence rubbed off on the team I thought.

Either way, Robinson has to go to be honest.

Go. England have been horrendously bad recently. Whoever takes over can hardly make the team's performances worse.

I'm afraid for me he has to go. Poor squad decisions such as the leaving out of Lawrence Dallaglio, who at the moment is on fire for Wasps is just partly the reason why England are doing so poorly. Fair enough, great world class players like Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Richard Hill all retired after we won the World Cup, but surely England still have good enough players to do okay in the six nations, not like last year and finish fourth. I really think England need better backs because we lack penetration terribly. There is not one back that I think will take it round a couple of people, which I could have said Jason Robinson and an inform Ben Cohen could have done.

Gigs to attend in 2009:
Defenders of the Faith II @ Bristol CA
Metallica @ The O2
DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2009
Biffy Clyro @ Southampton Guildhall
Rodrigo Y Gabriela @ Bristol Colston Hall

ORIGINAL: (sic)

I'm afraid for me he has to go. Poor squad decisions such as the leaving out of Lawrence Dallaglio, who at the moment is on fire for Wasps is just partly the reason why England are doing so poorly. Fair enough, great world class players like Martin Johnson, Neil Back, Richard Hill all retired after we won the World Cup, but surely England still have good enough players to do okay in the six nations, not like last year and finish fourth. I really think England need better backs because we lack penetration terribly. There is not one back that I think will take it round a couple of people, which I could have said Jason Robinson and an inform Ben Cohen could have done.

First thing - Dallaglio is injured/recovering from injury. He said on tv today he'd love to play for England again but needs to regain his fitness first.

Ben Cohen, Jason Cueto and Josh Lewsey are the best wings/full backs we have, and are all on okay form. The problem is they are not getting the service they need and have too mucxh pressure on them. Lewsey's try saving tackle last week was exceptional.

The reason they lack good ball for these backs is in the centre's and the forwards. We don't have anyone who can provide the Tindall (or Catt)/Greenwood partnership we had in the world cup. They were solid, and Mike Catt, when needed provided an experienced creative edge that took pressure off of Johnny Wilkinson.

Our forwards have no clear leadership. We don't command rucks strongly enough, which means we recycle ball quick enough, which leaves the backs man on man and with no where to go. We don't have the rolling maul power we had with Back, Hill and Dallaglio. The controlled every scrum and maul, making sure the ball was secure, moving forward with power and cleanly recycled. This puts more pressure on the backs.

We miss those three backrow forwards, we miss Jonnny Wilkinson's natural talent for the game and most of all we miss Martin Johnson's leadership qualities.

I say make Johnson the team coach, with Richard Hill, Neil Back, Mike Catt, Rob Andrew and Brian Ashton as his coaching team and tactical advisors. Martin Johnson will have the instant respect of the team, which is more then what Robinson has. Hill and Back are the best forwards we have that are retired from international rugby (bar Johnson) and between the 3 of them can sort out that area. With exception of Wilkinson, Mike Catt is the most creative fly half/centre with a natural understanding of the game we've had since Rob Andrew. Couple those two together and see how they can sculpt our backs. Brian Ashton is a tactically brilliant, but is currently being ignored in the England setup.

Make these changes and we may JUST stand a chance of avoiding the wooden spoon in the 6 nations next year.

As a Welshman I want him to stay as long as possible!! Seriously though, he should have gone last year when they sacked the rest of the coaching staff.
 
Also it will be hard to get a top name into the job this close to the World Cup as they won't have time to make their mark on the team.
 
Already looking forward to a possible QF in Marseille next year (already got tickets booked!) to get some revenge for the last WC!!

although i'm a rugby league fan i say he should stay so england go further down the pecking order mwhahahahaha

i think that england are currently crap basically because we lost a lot of thier key and veteran players so they had to bring in a lot of youngsters that dont really know a lot.
 
but i do think that the coach should do a better job of gettin them up to scratch.

"you know when your getting old, because you get the same excitement out of a rocking chair than you once did from a rollercoaster."

he should go - no doubt about that. Purely for his lack of management - three minutes on the field for Toby Flood? Whats the point?
 
But Robinsons not solely to blame. The English game is stale and old, and theres no talent coming through. When Woodward was in post, he introduced a new style of rugby that was forward dominated and relied on superior strength and fitness - now the rest of the world have caught up and past them, its left english rugby trailing. There are simply not enough world class players in the side anymore. You need world class players at 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15 as well as the back row - the rest of the players can just be 'good'. When you think that the best fit number 10 is Andy Goode, and the best outside centre is Jamie Noon, then England are in trouble.
 
New coach, and new RFU set up me thinks. Rant over.

ORIGINAL: metalurgy

he should go - no doubt about that. Purely for his lack of management - three minutes on the field for Toby Flood? Whats the point?

But Robinsons not solely to blame. The English game is stale and old, and theres no talent coming through. When Woodward was in post, he introduced a new style of rugby that was forward dominated and relied on superior strength and fitness - now the rest of the world have caught up and past them, its left english rugby trailing. There are simply not enough world class players in the side anymore. You need world class players at 9, 10, 11, 14 and 15 as well as the back row - the rest of the players can just be 'good'. When you think that the best fit number 10 is Andy Goode, and the best outside centre is Jamie Noon, then England are in trouble.

New coach, and new RFU set up me thinks. Rant over.

I still think we have a wealth of young and old talent who can be world class, (one being Toby Flood as you mentioned - and Riff, you mentioned Mike Catt, I think he is still on fine form as a player) but the coaching staff seem not to be letting them concentrate on basics like ball retention and simple passing.  If key players can't get this right, the game can't flow.  We were always past masters at slowing the game down when we needed to, now we seem to struggle for quick ball ourselves.

At the end of the day, the natural talent is there, it's just not being managed well, the poor performance is down to poor coaching.

Maybe I'm clutching at straws, but I still think Wilkinson could be an important part of the setup. If he can just stop getting stupid injuries - I mean, who injures their kidney FFS??
 
Matthew Tait, Toby Flood, Dan Ward Smith, James Simpson Daniel, Chris Jones.... all good England prospects if they can be developed properly.

ah keep him on,
been a rugby fan since the late 80's and was there in Lansdowne Road during the bleak 90's when Ireland sucked but we stood by our lads through thick and thin, now it's nice to look across the pond at our neighbours and go "jaysus, aren't England feckin' woeful at this sport!" so keep Andy Robinson on and take heart with the fact that even though ye are playing the worst rugby I've ever seen an English side produce, at least yer giving the rest of us a good laugh!
on another note, isn't yer man's job title of "director of rugby elite" or what ever he's calling himself a bit daft?

THE GODS OF ROCK HAVE SPOKEN,
THE BEAST WILL RETURN TO DONINGTON

ORIGINAL: metalurgy

Maybe I'm clutching at straws, but I still think Wilkinson could be an important part of the setup. If he can just stop getting stupid injuries - I mean, who injures their kidney FFS??

Matthew Tait, Toby Flood, Dan Ward Smith, James Simpson Daniel, Chris Jones.... all good England prospects if they can be developed properly.

A bruised kidney isn't that rare in a contact sport like Rugby.  It can also be completely dibilatating - the pain can be likened to broken ribs, making it very hard to move easily at all.

For Jonny to make a good comeback we'd need strong players around to protect him (as with any Number 10) - people such as Mike Catt, who did a sterling job in the last world cup.

ORIGINAL: Big_Green_Machine

on another note, isn't yer man's job title of "director of rugby elite" or what ever he's calling himself a bit daft?

Andy Robinson is head coach, Rob Andrews is Director of Rugby.  The "elite" part *stiffles titter* is used to distinguish our top squad from the likes of the Saxons and other such players who don't quite match up to our "high standards" [8D]



Yes, I know - calling Engalnd "elite" is a bit gay (not that you'd ever hear me say such a thing)

Whoop - he's resigned. About time too....
 
any guesses for whos up next? Nick Mallett has already said he'd be unsure of taking it.

Nick? Timmy fucking Mallett couldn't do any worse than Robinson!
 
Nah, we're just on a slump at the moment. It's cyclical, you know. Like BGM says, the Irish weren't so hot in the 80s, the Welsh were pretty pants five or ten years ago; both have recovered and are playing good rugby again, while we've been coming down from the World Cup peak.

I'm clocked out - you can check!

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/asscheifholland/

**

ORIGINAL: metalurgy

Whoop - he's resigned. About time too....

any guesses for whos up next? Nick Mallett has already said he'd be unsure of taking it.

 
I can see Rob Andrews doing a dual roll of Director of Rugby and Caretaker Head Coach.