Johnno new Pommie boss
17 Apr 2008
Martin Johnson has been named as England manager until the end of 2011, while Brian Ashton has been axed.
Johnson’s appointment was the RFU’s worst kept secret, and he was officially announced as the boss last night. The terms of Johnson’s contract have been ratified, and he will have full control over team selection and the appointment of coaches – while Ashton isn’t part of his plans and will step down with immediate effect. Johnson will only only take over from July 1 as his wife is expecting their second child at the time of England’s tour to New Zealand. Rob Andrew will have this managerial role on tour, with coaches Mike Ford and John Wells retained.
“I am passionate about the England team and delivering success for it,” the former World Cup-winning captain said in a statement.
“While I cannot take up my position until July 1 for personal reasons, I will be working closely with Rob and the England coaching team on selection for the Barbarians match and the New Zealand tour, as well as selecting the first senior elite player squad of 32 under the new agreement between the RFU and Premier Rugby.”
34 Comments
17 Apr 2008, 08:57 am
Dragons!
17 Apr 2008, 09:01 am
Holy ****, is everyone going to end in an o on this site. Jonno, Kempo, Keo. Enougho.
17 Apr 2008, 09:15 am
katmano, very friggin funny!
17 Apr 2008, 09:16 am
Clever Johnno,
Skip the NZ tour that way you can`t be blamed for the humiliation waiting.
17 Apr 2008, 09:17 am
Maybe i should change my nic to Nammo…
17 Apr 2008, 09:18 am
Enough to send a chill up your spine… His is revered and an icon in WORLD rugby let alone England, and with the respect he has from the players you will notice their performance increase dramatically! Watch out, NZ!
17 Apr 2008, 09:26 am
Who’s this Grant and why isn’t his pic at the bottom.
17 Apr 2008, 09:52 am
Grant me the honour of drawing his portrait.
17 Apr 2008, 09:52 am
Think if he gets Jake to do the job… Could be interesting.
17 Apr 2008, 09:54 am
Should be interesting seeing how England go with Jonno at the helm. If he fails, we all know why! But best of luck to him.
17 Apr 2008, 09:56 am
I think Jonno has been quite vocal about keeping the England team English. Plus Jake wouldnt take a team where he doesnt have final say on team selection.
17 Apr 2008, 09:58 am
Poms to get bashed by the superior rugby team…AB!! Then in 2009 they going to get bashed even more with the Lions tour.
17 Apr 2008, 10:02 am
As always…I’ll wait and see how he does then judge him. he certainly has the credentials. they’ve treated Ashton poorly though, offered him his old job back at the rugby academy, effectively a demotion and then try and gloss it over with pithy statements in the press. Perfidious Albion.
17 Apr 2008, 10:03 am
You mean Pommos to get bashed by Abb… oops, almost said a no-no.
17 Apr 2008, 10:07 am
As for keeping everything English in the England rugby set up…well Mr Johnson, that is xenophobic and illegal in England. You arent even allowed to say it!!! You arent allowed to discriminate against other groups or nationalities, particularly minorities. I suspect Martin Johnson is going to be a victim of his own big mouth, anyway as I said…time will tell. Must say as a player and when it comes to being dirty he makes Bakkies look like he is in kindergarden, this ouk was a dirty player!!
17 Apr 2008, 10:15 am
4man…its only in south africa where being a “south african” means black. In other countries being “english” or “italian” means that you are a citizen.
17 Apr 2008, 10:29 am
Well this Bok supporter is smiling. An English Carel Du Plessis. Zero coaching experience and given the top job – a proven formula for failure. Many a hiding for the English coming up. PdV gaan Engelse gat skop jong
17 Apr 2008, 10:41 am
#17 Has this guy ever coached any team before? Not that I know of.
I think England is in for a couple more hidings.
17 Apr 2008, 11:18 am
All the successful Rugby men at the top of international set-up’s certainly have been Managers. They set the tone of the squad, the higher ideals, the tatics possibly and the spititual minds of the players.
They are complimented by skilled tracksuit proffessionals all with expertise in an area of the game.
These maestroes (spelling) have been Kitch Christie, Clive Woodward, Jake White, Graham Hendry, and there are a few others….. You don’t need a couple of seasons running in a tracksuit witha few forlorn club players under a floodlight to say you have the experience.
Matin J has the player experience at the highest club level. He was very nearly lost to England in the early years having emigrated to New Zealand and making the young All Blacks he would almost certainly have worn the full Silver Fern if it wasn’t for his Kiwi born wife who wanted to travel ensuring on them getting on a Jumbo bound for the UK.
He is highly qualified in the Player management role as a team captain when his stance, words, and spirit saw England through to the 2003 RWC against an Australian side threatening to pich the Cup.
He is a skilled orator at player level generally when you need to use the lower gutteral stuff not heard ever on television…. and I am sure we will find out, not afraid to use those same words to the arrogant old farts of the RFU. Expect fireworks.
He is a mans man and exactly what England needs at this moment
17 Apr 2008, 11:20 am
18
Not a single professional team to speak of. Like Carel Du Plessis may have dabbled with a low level amateaur club team – nothing more. English Premiership coaches must be knocking their heads against the wall (just like over provincial and super rugga coaches did)
17 Apr 2008, 11:44 am
mmm not to sure if this will acually work. Yes he was a great captian etc but has zero coaching or mangering experience. The one thing in his favour is his player experience, having lost out in RWC95/99 he had learnt what it meant to be the best and stay the best to win RWC2003.
17 Apr 2008, 12:39 pm
“While I cannot take up my position until July 1 for personal reasons “…
Since when is not wanting to witness your Team getting it’s aarse kicked, “personal reasons”
17 Apr 2008, 13:48 pm
Cane he is only using a Euphemism!
17 Apr 2008, 13:49 pm
Well i reckon this sends a clear message to White. It will be a tropical day in England before a foreigner gets appointed as Head Manager.
17 Apr 2008, 15:33 pm
Suspect that the Poms will repond very well to Johnson. That’s OK though, the Rugby World needs a team to share an intense dislike of (other than the convicts, of course). Almost starting to feel sorry for my English brother-in-law… almost.
Any bets on England being back in the Top 2 come 2011?
17 Apr 2008, 16:23 pm
The English press seem over the moon that Johnson is in the job, while also being rightly critical of the way Ashton was treated.
I just don’t get it. How do you go from captain to manager in 4 years without actually coaching? We might as well get Joost to choose the Bok team and employ the coaches – it’s that ridiculous.
17 Apr 2008, 16:52 pm
MJ is regarded in England in much the same way that Pienaar is/was in SA post ’95. He is a great leader and motivator and has done some coaching of his own. It seems that he building a coaching staff of up to 13 and will co-ordinate it in his own fashion.
19 – He did play U-21 for NZ…….
17 Apr 2008, 17:32 pm
27. Have you ever seen the British Lions DVD when Jonno was captain? Legendary leadership.
17 Apr 2008, 19:06 pm
Seems to me that “The Beetle Browed Enforcer” is back and Saffas are nervous! I think Bakkies would **** himself if MJ the took off his tie and decided to sub himself onto the pitch!
17 Apr 2008, 21:04 pm
Eight-or-nine-coaching-offers-Jake. That’s what he said. The English job is clearly not one of them.
He wants the job. He is the World Cuyp Champions coach. He defeated England 4 times in one year.
Why is it that nobody wants Jake. He unashamedly presented himself for the English job.
In fact: nobody seems to want him.
Whatever anyone may say: Jake is not regarded very highly as a coach in the rugby world.
If there is one country where he was supposed to fit in with his onedimensional dinosaurus rugby brain, then England was the one. They would rather opt for the inexperienced Jonno or Mike Catt.
Sorry Jake. Maybe you are your own worst enemy.
17 Apr 2008, 23:03 pm
30
Yep, Mettie i share those sentiments. Can’t see any of the major nations employing Jake. I would not higher any bloke who lamblasted their previous employer in the manner Jake did to SARU. Rightly or wrongly, as the employee you shut your mouth so as to remain attractive to the market. Sorry Jake, maar jou mond was te groot …
18 Apr 2008, 02:21 am
And then all of a sudden the poms are at the top of the world again!!!!
18 Apr 2008, 03:52 am
22
His wife (a keewee) is due to have a child that month. Johnno does not fear NZ.
18 Apr 2008, 11:17 am
Great article in The Mail today……….
Pathetic All Blacks still in denial over World Cup flop
Six months after the event, New Zealand’s review into what went wrong with their World Cup campaign arrived yesterday with an earth-shattering conclusion into why they came unstuck against France in the quarter-final. Nobody thought to try a drop goal.
Any boy, or girl, in any under-13 team anywhere in the British Isles could have told them that. Instead, the Kiwis spent £40,000 on an investigation and then proceeded to reappoint Graham Henry regardless of its findings.
Damage limitation: Henry is still in the New Zealand job
Sadly, the 47-page document published on Thursday could not resist another pathetic swipe at the English referee Wayne Barnes, as if one forward pass was the sole explanation for the All Blacks making their earliest exit from any World Cup.
‘Factors outside the control of the All Blacks contributed to the loss against France,’ said the review. ‘The performance of the referee and the touch judges had a significant, adverse impact on the All Blacks.’
Far from acknowledging Barnes for what he is, at 28 the best young referee in the game, the review even makes a laughable attempt to blame him for the team’s collective brainstorm in the final minutes.
Page 30 of the report states: ‘The coaches did send a message out to the team with 10 minutes to go to set up for a drop goal. The on-field decision was made to continue with the tactic of attempting to score a try or get a penalty.
‘When making those decisions, the players were unaware of a vital piece of information, that the All Blacks had not been given a penalty in the entire second half and were, therefore, probably unlikely to get one, notwithstanding their pressure, possession and territory.’
Did it not occur to them that Mr Barnes, clearly, found no reason to award one? They would have been better off saying less about that and more on an infinitely more credible reason for their failure, Henry’s rotational selection policy which, the report concedes, ‘did not become sufficiently consistent closer to the World Cup to allow combinations to develop’.
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.