Gatland: I’m not interested in England job

As well as looking for a new head coach, with Wales’s Warren Gatland appearing to rule himself out yesterday on Saturday on WalesOnline, the chief executive is fighting for his own survival. “Stuart was kind enough to allow me a day with him earlier this year, to visit him and talk about coaching, and he shared a lot of stuff that he had learned”.

“I’ve said before I think it’s right, and I do agree with that policy”.

O’Shea may not have worldwide experience as a head coach, but he would bring a wealth of other credentials having been Director of Rugby at Harlequins for the past five years.

The unpromising start to the task of replacing Lancaster indicates the difficulties Ritchie could face landing the level of candidate the RFU wants.

Lancaster relinquished his head coach role by mutual consent on Wednesday and the RFU immediately launched a global search for a new boss with “proven worldwide experience”.

The Cape Town-based side have been criticised by many fans in recent years for adopting a dour approach under former coach Allister Coetzee.

I have been critical of Burgess from what I have seen of him at times but I have also been critical of Lancaster. I am who I am and I have coached who I have coached.

“I’ve not excluded English coaches, I am merely saying we would look at worldwide coaches as well”.

Warren is happy in Wales and as far as I am concerned he isn’t going anywhere – he is staying with us until 2019.

“It’s probably the job most coaches would put their hands up for but I have a job, and the most important thing is making sure I’m fair to my employers and the people I’m coaching now”. It was a massive show of faith by the RFU, and Ritchie said at the time it was “entirely the right decision for the future of England Rugby”.

And I have since seen it reported that Mike Catt – a great coach with a superb rugby brain – was hardly doing any coaching at all with England which seems a real shame.

After the ill-fated 2011 World Cup, Lancaster was made interim coach for overseeing Churchill Cup titles by the second-tier England Saxons with wins over Canada, the USA and Tonga.

“They will pick whoever they think is the best man for the job”.

England’s 15-match unbeaten run will come under serious threat on Friday, however, when they play European champions Spain at the Estadio Jose Rico Perez in Alicante.

He was previously coach of New Zealand Under-20s, winning consecutive world championships from 2008 to 2010, and has worked with World Cup-winning All Blacks including Sonny Bill Williams, Brodie Retallick and Julian Savea.

The 6 Nations is a brilliant tournament but the standard at times is very poor especially when compared to the World Cup.

“The current situation on overseas players not being selected unless in exceptional circumstances is not, in my view, an impediment on the team’s performance at the World Cup”, he declared.