Saints boss pulls out of England race
Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder has become the latest eligible cadidate to rule himself out of the running to become the next permanent England coach.
Mallinder had been touted as a replacement for Martin Johnson, who resigned after a wretched World Cup in New Zealand where a failure to make the semifinals was compounded by several embarrassing off-field incidents involving England players.
But former England Saxons coach Stuart Lancaster was put in temporary charge for the ongoing Six Nations, and it looks like he and South African coach Nick Mallett are the only others left standing after former All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith confirmed that he has not applied for the job either.
Although Mallinder, whose Northampton side were beaten European Cup finalists last season, was considered one of the leading English contenders for the post, he said now was not the time for him to coach England.
“No, I’ve not applied,” Mallinder told the BBC.
“It’s probably the best job in the world coaching-wise. What a great opportunity. But it’s got to be the right thing at the right time.”
He added: “At the moment I’m concerned with getting Northampton to win something.
“I spoke to (RFU Director of Operations) Rob Andrew a month or so ago. As I have done previously, I expressed that one day I think it’s a tremendous job to do.”
Mallinder’s comments came a day after the deadline for applications to become England coach closed.
Former South Africa and Italy coach Mallett remains a leading contender to take up the job permanently, having previously turned down an approach from the RFU for family reasons.
“You can never rule yourself out of a job like this,” said Mallett in November.
“The family situation might have changed. I’d never count it out because it’s one of the top five coaching jobs in the world.”
England have won their first two matches under Lancaster, winning away to both Scotland (13-6) and Italy (19-15).
But they managed just one try in each of those games, both charge-down scores by Charlie Hodgson, against two of the weakest sides in the tournament.
England’s next Six Nations match is against unbeaten table-toppers and World Cup semifinalists, Wales, at Twickenham on February 25.
AFP
