Dave Reddin yesterday became the fifth member of the England rugby union management team to lose his job this year after a record-equalling run of defeats but the unprecedented blood-letting appears to be over with the 2003 World Cup winners finally concentrating on the defence of their trophy in France next September.
Reddin’s position as fitness and nutrition coach was made redundant by the Rugby Football Union yesterday, shortly before a meeting of the Club England committee at the Army and Navy Club in Pall Mall considered how to fill the void left by the departure of the head coach, Andy Robinson, last month. With Robinson and Reddin following last summer’s coaching casualties, Phil Larder, Joe Lydon and Dave Alred, out of the door at Twickenham, the RFU is desperate for some continuity with only 10 matches left before the World Cup and wants to secure the triumvirate of coaches: Brian Ashton, John Wells and Mike Ford.
Ashton is expected to be made the first among equals when the RFU decides the make-up of the England management team later this month but there is a growing feeling at Twickenham that the three should be reinforced by a team manager who, although not having a direct input into coaching, would deal with the media.
There is a lobby for Dean Richards, the former England No8 who is currently Harlequins’ director of rugby, to be appointed and the RFU has the money to buy him out of his contract, but the management board wants to be made aware of the views of the three coaches before making its decision on December 20.
Rob Andrew, the RFU’s director of elite rugby, has played a pivotal role in both the departure of Robinson and the plans for the future. Calls by some Club England members yesterday to be given unilateral powers to make appointments were knocked down but the union is keen on a new body to run the elite game, made up of all the interested parties, including the players.
Tags: Coach, England, Fitness, Reddin, Rugby, Sacked, Union
