I was intending, post World Cup, for this blog to become a once a week thing. Busy schedules and weekend rugby would allow that to be the case surely, but no, I can't leave today's events without a special blog of their own.
I may not look like it now, but I used to be a fly half. I used to admire the great number 10s of my youth. Grant Fox, Michael Lynagh, Ollie Campbell and John Rutherford all still hold a special place in my memory, both for their skills in the shirt and the way they conducted themselves.
You can probably tell the way this blog is going from those first two paragraphs.
The facts. Martin Johnson resigns as England Coach. Rob Andrew refuses to contemplate resigning.
Rob Andrew has disappeared from the list of people I admire. I still respect what he achieved as a player; let's not forget he was the original World Cup England vs Australia drop goal hero in 1995 amongst other things. His cowering, cowardly performance at today's press conference, his slimy insistence that he stays while everyone around him goes and his general holier than thou attitude today lost him a lot of friends and admirers, and I am one of them.
He appointed Johnson, or was certainly heavily involved in the appointment. He has been involved at the very highest level of English rugby for the last 7 years or so, and this has coincided with a relatively barren period for the National side. Not a great CV. Yet he sits there in judgement on everyone below him, who seemingly have an incredible degree of loyalty to him for some reason.
Since the World Cup debacle, I have tried to predict what the RFU will do at every turn. I am not alone in this. Some of the best rugby writers in the country have done likewise, as have countless other bloggers. Not many have managed to predict the moves correctly. It was the genuine belief of most experts that Johnson needed to stay. The duration of that stay, as well as the terms and conditions of what he would need to do to keep the job, varied from article to article, but almost to a man, Johnson stayed. Add to this the fact that Johnson has never shirked a challenge in his life and it adds to my confusion as to what really happened in the Twickenham corridors of power.
All this adds up to me thinking that Johnson has been pushed down a road he didn't want to travel. His resignation for me is the equivalent in the 2003 World Cup Final of him saying to Jonny in extra time, dont go for the drop, kick to touch and we'll take our chances in sudden death. It's just not in the make-up of the man.
Andrew has a lot to answer for here, and if as many seem to suggest, Johnson's position had been made untenable, Andrew's will surely become that in the next few weeks. Johnson is the all-time England hero. The man who transformed the Nation with the help of Clive Woodward from a team of nearly men, to the only Northern hemisphere side to win the World Cup. He has a lot of people on his side. Andrew has, in my opinion, picked the wrong man to attack.
As Brendan Gallagher suggested in the Telegraph earlier, surely Rob Andrew should fall on his sword if he has any decency. Well it is my belief that, were that to happen, someone else would die from the wounds. Andrew has proved as elusive today as he wasn't in his playing day. He has resorted to the tactics he employed as a successful England 10 stuck in his own 22. Hoof what he sees as problem ball into touch.
Not a happy bunny as you can tell......
Thanks Martin Johnson for responding to your country's call when you weren't really ready. Thanks for always giving everything you have. No-one could doubt your passion and will to win as player or coach. Seeing your interviews, watching you thump desks when decisions went wrong, you are an example to anyone of a winning mentality. I look forward to the chapters that will close your next autobiography, when the truth of what happened finally comes out.
No comments:
Post a Comment