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Andrew backs England coaching set up
Author: Nigel Brown
Posted on:
02 December 2008 - 4:04 PM
Category:
Rugby Union
Director of elite rugby Rob Andrew has backed England's coaches despite a disastrous autumn Test campaign. The roles of Brian Smith, John Wells, Jon Callard, Graham Rowntree and Mike Ford have all come under the spotlight after Martin Johnson's side lost convincingly to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. But Andrew is pleased with the set-up and has backed Johnson's choices.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live:
"I'm very happy with where the coaching team is. Martin Johnson has absolute freedom to choose the coaches he wants and he is very happy with that."
England have dropped to sixth in the world rankings as a result of their poor form and Johnson's reign as manager has not got off to a promising start.
His record so far reads played four, lost three - and his solitary success came against the much-less fancied Pacific Islanders.
But Andrew reckons the team is in transition.
He added: "When you play against the three best teams in the world on consecutive weeks you find out exactly where you are and what you need to do - we've found out a lot of things.
"It's a three year, not a three week journey. It's about the years leading up to the World Cup in 2011."