What coach would you bring in then ?
Who said I would?
I am genuinely unsure of what I make of Lancaster's record and this long contract - and that goes for his coaching team as well - but then a little more for Lancaster as presumably he liked the idea. I feel there's arguments both ways.
The group clearly likes and trusts each other. The RFU have now given them a lot of advantages in terms of trust and time, which are no small things to give a coach. I've never been a big believer in us winning 2015, but 2019 is on like donkey kong. That's when most of that squad hits their peak. To have a team who will take on delivering the best team for that starting now is fantastic. It's a really good thing.
I like their emphasis on fitness and discipline. I like that they are prepared to be pragmatic about their long term plans. I like the job they've done on creating a club England feeling. Certain aspects of England's play as a team are truly World Class - our defence, our forwards' work in the loose. They've got a clear vision of what they want England look like and how they're going to get there. They want to get the basics of defence, fitness, discipline and mental toughness right and graft on the rest from there. He's been long term from the get go there. He's also very comfortable with the non-rugby aspects of his job, which is good - clearly a huge plus in the RFU's eyes. His knowledge of England's young prospects is a huge asset. I like that he's very holistic about it.
There have been some cracking results. In general they've been good, 60pc win rate, and even with excuses beating NZ is hard and he did it convincingly. Very consistent. He's made us very hard to beat, not many big losses. It's nice being an England fan with him there. It's not difficult to imagine it all paying off in a few Slams and SANZAR scalps soon, is it? It could be argued that's he polishing a bit of a turd here. There are areas of the team where every single candidate has serious questions over them at international level.
But - but - other side of the coin - there hasn't been a trophy. The excuses means its difficult to see us pulling off the NZ win again. Has he got it in him to craft a team that gets over the line at tight moments? Right now he has a huge amount of glorious defeats to his name. Debatably, we should have a couple of 6Ns, maybe a Grand Slam and another win over New Zealand and South Africa already. The chances have been there, just not took - which is a sentence that so often sums up this England team's play. I think Lancaster is the first England coach since Greenwood who's been given 3 swings at winning a 6N and taken none of them.
Can Lancaster and Catt get the team to be ruthless or even competent about making the most of try scoring opportunities? Is Catt even the right guy? Can they finally nail the centre partnership? Given their obsession with Ashton, are we ever going to see him hit his potential again in England shirt? Is Farrell's influence a good thing here? Would we be better off going on bended knee to Northampton to get Alex King instead? Are we ever going to see an England rolling maul worthy of the name under Lancaster and Rowntree? As things stand, nobody's going to come into the set-up with fresh new ideas that they have lived and breathed. Is that the right call? Particularly in a team that clearly needs to evolve further to win things.
I do not have the answers. I don't think any of us do - only time does. Personally I'd have waited a bit longer to get more answers before I gave Lancaster a vote of confidence like that. But that's not saying I want him gone or think he's doing a bad job.
Although, for what it's worth, both Mallinder and Baxter would probably do fine with the role. Better than Lancaster? Don't know. Ask me again after the World Cup, academic as it will be.
