LONDON, 8 September 2004 — The Rugby Football Union (RFU) unveiled a five-man committee yesterday, featuring three former England captains, which will oversee the appointment of a new England coach following last week’s resignation of World Cup-winner Sir Clive Woodward.
Headed up by John Spencer, the panel features two more ex-England skippers in Fran Cotton and Bill Beaumont with all three men having played for the British and Irish Lions.
Cotton also managed the successful Lions tour of South Africa in 1997 and Beaumont is due to manage the 2005 Lions in New Zealand The panel also includes Simon Halliday, a member of England’s back-to-back Grand-Slam winning back division in 1991 and 1992, as well as Chris Spice, the RFU’s performance director.
Spencer, a former England center, is the chairman of Club England, the advisory committee which will make a recommendation to the RFU’s management board regarding Woodward’s successor.
Woodward quit following a row over access to his players and his intentions to branch out into soccer, prompting the Lions committee to consider whether the 48-year-old should still lead the team in New Zealand next year.
Meanwhile, Woodward’s deputy, Andy Robinson, has been made acting head England coach with a brief to take charge of the team for their November Twickenham Tests against Canada, South Africa and Australia.
Earlier yesterday he made clear his desire to take the job on full-time, saying: “I expect to be involved in the World Cup defense and I want to lead it.”
Robinson remains the favorite to succeed Woodward permanently and Spencer stressed the panel would be as quick as they could. “I will be confirming the date of our first meeting shortly but I expect it to be in the early part of next week,” Spencer said in an RFU statement issued yesterday.
Perth to Host Scotland-Japan Match
In Edinburgh, Scotland are to break new ground by staging their autumn international against Japan in the central town of Perth.
The match on Saturday, Nov. 13 will be held at McDiarmid Park, the home of St. Johnstone football club with a 5:30 p.m. kick-off.
It will be the seventh ground used by Scotland for international rugby and the northernmost to date.
Scotland coach Matt Williams welcomed the announcement saying: “It’s fantastic to be able to take an international game into Caledonia which has produced so many great rugby players.
