RFU warned over appointing ‘overseas messiah’ as England coach

England have been warned there could be trouble ahead if the Rugby Football Union rejects all its homegrown coaches and simply signs up “a messiah” from overseas to take charge of the national team. Exeter’s Rob Baxter believes the RFU will be making an expensive mistake if it recruits a foreign coach, with several high-profile candidates already ruling themselves out of contention to succeed Stuart Lancaster.

Wayne Smith, Sir Graham Henry and Eddie Jones all say they are either uninterested or unavailable to help out England, although the South African pair of Jake White and Nick Mallett, the Wales coach, Warren Gatland, and Australia’s Michael Cheika remain among the names on the RFU’s wishlist. Baxter has also ruled himself out, although the Exeter head coach has queried the RFU’s refusal to consider any of the Premiership’s top coaches.

“The answer’s not just going out and finding some sort of messiah,” said Baxter, unimpressed that the RFU’s chief executive, Ian Ritchie, seems to have little interest in employing an Englishman. “Before the RFU jump into this perceived need to find a southern hemisphere coach, I think they need to slow down a bit. I don’t think you can underestimate the cultural differences. To assume there won’t be quite an extensive bedding-in period if you go that way is quite naive. The setup in England is very different to Super Rugby.”

With English players not centrally contracted as, for example, they are in New Zealand, Baxter believes inter-hemisphere comparisons are misleading. “The challenges will be different and an overseas coach will have less time and ability to influence the players.

“They can’t think they can put a coach into the English game and imagine that guy’s not going to get quite frustrated.”

The RFU would be better advised, according to Baxter, to spend time deciding exactly what it wants and he does not see why a hand-picked team of club coaches could not steer England through the Six Nations without relinquishing their day jobs. “Is there any reason why you couldn’t have a Michael Cheika situation for the Six Nations, where someone who is under contract to a club could take over?” Baxter said. “I think they’re just determined to show that ‘we’re the RFU, this is how it’s going to happen.’

“It doesn’t need to be like that. I don’t see why guys who flourish in the Premiership can’t go on and flourish in the international environment. I think it’s short-sighted to think that wouldn’t be the case. We’ve got a very challenging Premiership structure and I think it creates people who can deal with difficult scenarios. I would like to think they’d at least be thought of as genuine contenders before we start thinking we’ve got to bring in an overseas coach.”

Baxter said he would not be interested in a full-time England role until later in his career – “It wouldn’t feel right for me to do it at the moment” – but Sale’s Steve Diamond believes Northampton’s Jim Mallinder would be a good choice. “They need to get the right man,” said Diamond. We need proven winners and with the last two appointments we haven’t. I think the ideal candidate is sitting at Northampton – Jim Mallinder.”

While White reaffirmed on Thursday night that he is interested in succeeding Lancaster, the 2007 World Cup winning coach warned that he will not be submitted to the “rigmarole” of an arduous application process. “If the RFU thinks I am the man for the job and there wasn’t going to be any rigmarole of going through the whole process which I have before then I would be a contender,” he said. “I know I can get England to win a World Cup. I always say, if you’ve been to Everest and put the pole in the top, then you’ve done it. It’s easy to talk about how you should do it, if you’ve never done it.”

Otherwise, the RFU is not awash with big-name interest. Henry, New Zealand’s 2011 World Cup-winning coach, says there is “absolutely no chance” of him taking the job and his compatriot Smith is taking a break from the game in 2016 to go travelling in Europe. “My head can turn like anyone else when it comes to money but, ultimately, I’ve come to understand that’s not what’s going to make you happy,” he said.

Jones, meanwhile, insisted on Thursday his loyalty now lies with the Stormers in Cape Town, having guided Japan to three World Cup pool victories. “There has been no contact [from the RFU] and I am committed to the Stormers,” he said. “I woke up this morning and looked at Table Mountain. I’m very happy to be here.”