Mike Averis 

Martyn Thomas faces music as RFU considers England World Cup failure

Wednesday's RFU board meeting could end the confusion at the top of English rugby that has reigned since before the World Cup
  
  

Martyn Thomas, above, has threatened Jeff Blackett with legal action as the RFU's civil war rages on
Martyn Thomas is acting chief executive of the Rugby Football Union. Photograph: Action Images Photograph: Action Images

The confusion at the top of English rugby – and questions about the future of the England team manager, Martin Johnson – could be addressed on Wednesday when the Rugby Football Union's board decides what it wants to do with Martyn Thomas, the acting RFU chief executive.

The board meeting on Wednesday will be the first time the RFU's directors have discussed England's performance at the World Cup, where they lost in the quarter‑finals and caused embarrassment off the field. Separately, the board has been warned that retaining Thomas will paralyse governance at Twickenham until the new year and might even risk England's hosting of the next World Cup, in 2015. More than 130 clubs have called for Thomas's dismissal, saying that if the board does not sack him they will demand a special general meeting, at which they will force the issue with a vote of no confidence.

Thomas has been at the top of English rugby for more than six years, since he beat the former England coach Jack Rowell to be chairman of the RFU board. Rowell, a leading industrialist and a successful coach with Bath, was the choice of Twickenham's secretariat and the professional clubs: Thomas's election was a considerable surprise. He was thought to be the force behind the unpleasant departure of Brian Ashton as England coach, in 2008, but calls for his head surfaced in earnest in June, when he sacked John Steele a year after hiring him as chief executive.

There were moves to unseat Thomas when a report on the Steele sacking, written by the RFU's disciplinary officer, Jeff Blackett, pointed the finger in his direction. Thomas threatened to sue for defamation if the report was published and though he stood down as chairman he assumed Steele's role until a full-time chief executive could be found.

Thomas had planned to become the chairman of the committee organising the 2015 World Cup, but the clubs have been angered by some of his more recent actions, particularly commissioning the former England prop Fran Cotton to review the structure of England rugby. Immediately after England's defeat by France in Auckland, Thomas gave Johnson until 24 October to say if he wanted to continue as England manager and announced that Cotton would lead an independent review. Cotton had been quoted as saying: "Martin has now been in charge three-and-a-half years and it is very difficult to understand what style of play this England rugby team is all about."

The commissioning of Cotton was questioned by the Professional Game Board, which represents senior clubs and players as well as the RFU and which also announced an inquiry.

Thomas denied giving Johnson a deadline – "it was merely an informal situation," he said – and has since stood by the manager. The England players have refused to take part in Cotton's review. According to the Rugby Players Association (RPA), they will report only to the PGB.

The chairman of the management board, Paul Murphy, has been shown letters from 130 clubs demanding Thomas's departure. "The bottom line is that Thomas has to go, not just as acting chief executive but as an RFU member of the IRB and the Six Nations," said one RFU member last week. "Given what has gone on, he should also be made to stand down as chairman of Rugby World Cup 2015."

The former England manager Geoff Cook described Thomas as "too autocratic and confrontational" and the former chief executive Francis Baron has offered to return. "When things go wrong on your watch, it's a well-established tradition in British public life that you do the honourable thing," Baron said. "But decision-making in the RFU now seems to be focused on self-preservation, not on taking the game forward."

Thomas has survived two votes of no confidence at meetings of the RFU council and has been supported by Murphy and the RFU president, Willie Wildash, who said he was "highly valued by the international rugby community". However, South Africa has suggested taking over as host for 2015 and Australia has asked if the turmoil is harming planning.

There will be a proposal today to wind up the Cotton report; Rob Andrew, the RFU's professional rugby director, and the Premiership clubs are also reporting on the World Cup. According to the RPA the players – most of whom have been publicly supportive of Johnson – have been "extremely honest" about their time in New Zealand and "are adamant that England must be in the right shape mentally, physically and technically to mount a credible challenge to the 2015 Rugby World Cup."

 

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