England want new permanet Coach in place before end of 6ns.

Taken straight off the bbc web site.

The Rugby Football Union has taken the unusual step of using a City headhunting firm to help it choose the next England head coach.

Odgers Berndtson began the recruitment process last week, and will advise a five-man RFU selection panel.

The RFU wants to announce the permanent successor to Martin Johnson by the end of the Six Nations at the latest.

Interim coach Stuart Lancaster could apply but a decision is likely before their Six Nations results are known.

Given the levels of rugby expertise within the game that the RFU could consult, the decision to employ Odgers will be controversial.

Continue reading the main story
If Stuart applies it would be very positive for the RFU
Stephen Brown

Acting chief executive, RFU
"We want the process to be open and transparent, and they will give us support and an objective view," said RFU acting chief executive Stephen Brown.

"Odgers will provide objectivity, advice during the assessment stages, and some practical, administrative help in what is a worldwide search."

The headhunters will work with a five-man selection panel including incoming chief executive Ian Ritchie, professional rugby director Rob Andrew and representatives of Premiership Rugby.

They will recommend an appointment to the RFU board, which will make the final decision.

Brown admitted that having the recruitment process going on at the same time as the Six Nations presented Lancaster with "a challenge", but said he had "made a fantastic impression".

England's Six Nations gamesContinue reading the main story
•4 February: Scotland (away)
•11 February: Italy (away)
•25 February: Wales (home)
•11 March: France (away)
•17 March: Ireland (home)
"If he chooses to apply he'll be given every consideration," added Brown. "It would be very positive for the RFU [if he did so]."

The RFU is aiming to have a new permanent head coach named no later than 17 March, when England play their final Six Nations match against Ireland.

But if the chosen successor to Johnson is not available until the start of next season, Lancaster could be asked to extend his interim tenure for the three-Test tour of South Africa in June.

The RFU has also confirmed that Ritchie will take up his post earlier than expected, on 27 February.
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Do you think that this is faire on Lancaster though.

Do you like me think that they should atleast wait and see what the result of the 6ns will be?

What is your thought on this?

I think getting the selection process going is quite correct. If we delayed until the end of the 6Ns then we would probably not even have someone in place for summer tours. Lancaster can apply for the job and hopefully if he is successful in 6Ns then that will weigh heavily in his favour. I don't mind if the RFU don't decide on who the successful candidate is until the 6Ns is over, but they do need to get cracking with sorting the whole thing out.

What really annoys me is the appointment of a head hunting firm. Totally pointless. They will be paid 30% of the annual salary of the successful candidate and for what? How are they going to assist? What rugby knowledge do they bring? RFU has enough rugby people to do this themselves.

We should be appointing a head coach on the basis of more than just 5 games though, so the Six Nations should never have been billed as an all or nothing trial for Lancaster. He has the credentials, but there are other candidates too.

Lancaster knew what he was getting into when he took on the Willy Groundsman role.

I'd love to see if this City headhunting firm brings in some left-field candidates from the Army, the banking sector or NASA. It seems to me that it speaks very little of the people in the RFU administration and is an admission that they are clueless and need outside help.

I fail to see the need for a permanent coach before the end of the 6Ns. The start would've been a better option so perhaps a bit of foresight wouldn't have gone amiss. But if it were a rush to get a permanent coach before the 6N, you would think the same applies to a tournament that hardly drags on forever. The candidates that were frightened away before the tournament's start are hardly going to clamber out from their hiding positions now with this revelation.

A million monkeys with a million typewriters couldn't plumb to these depths. It´s like they're applying for the Guiness Book of Records for most incompetent administrators.

I would have preferred Lancaster and his team to given the 6N and the summer tour. That way if it went wrong a new hand could have taken charge before the 2012 AI's and molded a new EPS / team from there but I agree with robbo227 that just 5 games is unfair to prove himself.

Can't believe they have to employ someone to do that on their behalf. Perhaps they felt overwhelmed without Rob Andrew there to undertake the roll. Wouldn't want the board members of the RFU having to do any real work for their pay and privileges.

Perhaps they're bringing in the headhunting firm as a way of deflecting future blame? Maybe I'm being a bit cynical, but there's such a blame culture pro sport these days. If it goes wrong the person who brought in the failure is culpable. Therefore, this approach puts the blame with a 3rd party. However, I guess the people at the top could still get the blame if it goes wrong for using a headhunting firm in the first place??? Maybe there's nowhere to hide!

Headhunters...its what you do when you have too much cash, no shortlist because nobody with provenance is interested and no actual credibility with potential employees.

What they fail to realise is that any potential coach will be thinking...do i want to work for the buffoons that are the RFU and I think that situation is not likely to change in the foreseeable.

To me the headhunter is the right call, but only because the RFU are so (resisting the temptation to go on a four letter tirade) rubbish. Yet to see what effect the new guy from the LTA association will have, but the rest of the RFU should go.

How do people get into the RFU? It seems like once your in you decide when you leave, but some people seem to be there forever? At my rugby club all our members vote for the executive committee who will run our club, I think the RFU should be the same: all the member clubs vote for the people who will run the RFU and people can work their way up through divisional set-ups (RFU London and Sussex RFU being my local ones). That way if the people at the top aren't performing, the rugby community can get rid of them. Most clubs will have an AGM anyway, and the clubs could take a vote on who they would vote for at the AGM, or it could be left up to the executive committee.

Anyway, slight digression aside, I would have probably given Lancaster up to and including the 2012 Six Nations. Get the RFU sorted probably, let Lancaster keep the team tiding over and get a proper trial. If we sort the RFU and Lancaster is doing well then we can keep him on, if not then we can get rid of him and start a fresh, a new chief executive with his first appointment as coach. The coach would then get to wet his feet with a low profile tour to Argentina during the Lions tour and look at some fringe options, before picking an EPS to take us into the 2013/14 season. Rather than this murky situation we have now where no-one is culpable should 2-3 years down the line we fans be sitting here wondering why nothing has changed.

http://www.permanet.ie/New/

I still feel that even if Lancaster guides England to the Slam or even a Champioship win it won't be enough to get him the job.

I just reckon the RFU will want a marque signing to hang their hat on and say look we are doing things right and things not in a mess etc etc.

As for Lancaster himself then I think he should have at least been given the summer tour as well to prove his credentials.

I won't go into details because I'm not English, I'm not interested in the details and the 'details' is the very issue I'm going to make my point on!

England, or should I say more accurately, the RFU, are obsessed with the minutiae of the business side of Rugby. They seem terrified that if they loosen the ties a little and come in to work in a less than expensive suit that things will unravel and England rugby will lose its identity.

How many layers do you need to run a game? How many people have to be overlords of overlords and then the National coach at the bottom saying 'Please, sir' and 'Begging your pardon, sir'

When Clive Woodward was Lion's boss he brought a small army of strategic personnel with him. Afraid to loosen the trousers and let the breeze of chance in.

And now, the Professional headhunters to do the 2 or 3 hundred grand job of doing interviews and giving recommendations................................ to rugbymen! To people who are supposed to live and breathe rugby, to ex-players, to people who probably know who they'd like to ask and who they'd like to answer 'Yes'.

If the RFU has a role, surely it's interviewing and sanctioning their own Senior Team coach????

Is there any reason to presume Lancaster can do the job?

The RFU seem to have selected him because they lacked any options, or needed time to collect options. Reminds me of the Ospreys search the year before they hired Scott Johnson.

What a let down that announcement was.

I wonder how Lancaster will do and if he fails who the RFU will go for?

Declan Kidney?

Sigh. I hope this headhunting firm finds some alternate rolls for the RFU blazers so that we can replace them with people who know and care about rugby. The last decade has been a joke, and this is like the exclamation mark at the end of it.

The SRU are bungling at the best of times, but the RFU are in a different league altogether.

This whole headhunting thing was Woodward's idea. He suggested it in his Sunday Times article a while back. If they are just going to be following his ideas why not just hire him to lead the search for himself.