1 Gear coaching style towards an expansive gameplan
By common consent, England's interim head coach, Stuart Lancaster, likes his sides to show more ambition than Martin Johnson's squad did at the recent World Cup. "We want to play," he says, simply. "Modern defences are pretty well-organised, pretty physical and well-conditioned. The way to win big games is to play with tempo and intent and not allow teams to settle. To do that you've got to play quick and you've got to be able to offload the ball."
Diccon Edwards, the head coach of Leeds who played with Lancaster, foresees a more expansive England. "I think he'll free the team up a little bit. They'll try and play from a bit deeper and have a slightly broader outlook than they've had previously. Mind you, playing Scotland at Murrayfield is a pretty intimidating place to start. It'll be interesting to see how his philosophy and gameplan stack up in that environment." Even if the Six Nations does not start well, Lancaster says he and his assistant coaches, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell, will cope. "I'm confident in our ability to cover all the bases. There have been quite a lot of people involved with England … I want to tighten things up." Those who have played under Lancaster for the Saxons say he has the respect of all the players. "I haven't come across anyone who has a bad word to say about him," said the Exeter flanker Tom Johnson.
2 Shake up selection in the elite player squad
The senior and Saxons squad announcements on 11 January will be fascinating. A maximum of 10 changes can be made to each squad, with injury replacements also allowed. When Lancaster casually throws names such as Calum Clark of Northampton and Joe Gray of Harlequins into the conversation, it is clear youth will be given its head. "You've got to have a clear philosophy of how you want to play and then select accordingly. Experience is a factor but it's not the only factor. If you look at some of our young players – a Calum Clark or Joe Gray – they've already played in European finals. I think our young players have more experience than we give them credit for. There'll be an emphasis on youth but I won't ship out all the experience."
The arrival of Lancaster and Farrell will be good news for one or two individuals, not least a number of Saracens. Owen Farrell, Brad Barritt, Andy Saull and Alex Goode will all be hopeful, as will George Robson and Mike Brown of Harlequins. "I've spent three years in the Saxons with a lot of these players," Lancaster says. "I've coached Danny Care since he was 15. For me culture precedes performance. You need to have an honest, motivated group of players … I'll pick the players who tick the character box."
3 Focus on how best to motivate the players
In some ways the temporary coaches have an easy job. The frustrations of the World Cup and the chance to start afresh are galvanising players across the country. "These are changing times," says Tom Johnson, clearly among those keen to step up. "I'd imagine there will be a number of players giving 100% to try and prove a few things. Stuart has just got to steer it in the right direction." Such a prospect clearly excites Farrell, who believes competitive instincts are broadly the same across codes and hemispheres. "People get too wrapped up about league and union," he says. "Coaching is about getting the best out of people."
Reigniting the fire in players such as Chris Ashton is clearly a priority. "Strip everything back and look at the guy as a rugby player," says Farrell, a fellow man of Wigan. "Why's he a good player, why does he score so many tries? The answer is he works harder than any other winger and that's why he's in the position to score the tries in the first place. I watched him against Leicester last week and he was outstanding. He's a good lad." Get Ashton and Ben Foden firing and Lancaster's England could go places.
4 Identify a natural leader to be captain for Six Nations
The new captain will not be named until the end of January, after Lancaster has had a chance to assess the candidates. "I've got a leadership group in mind but the decision on the captain will be made after our pre-Six Nations training camp in January," he says. "There will be seven to eight key players and I want to see how they work with us. I think a natural leader will emerge after that first week." The honour will not necessarily go to a prominent name. "Historically Stuart has looked for a strong leadership figure who is influential on and off the field," says Edwards. "He had a very close relationship with Stuart Hooper when they were at Leeds. I think he'll look for a similar type of quality character: exceptionally professional, very hard working and dedicated. He'll look for someone who is able to role-model behaviours and drive everyone forward. It'll be that type of character I'm sure." Tom Wood of Northampton or Chris Robshaw of Harlequins could fit the bill. Scrutiny will also be paid to Lancaster's own leadership abilities at Test level. The Rugby Football Union's attached coach programme has enabled him to be a fly on the wall in the senior England changing room and to be quizzed on what he would do in certain circumstances.
5 Don't get distracted by long-term job prospects
The one thing Lancaster cannot control is the RFU's hunt for a long-term coaching team. Everyone knows that Nick Mallett and Wayne Smith are targets. Other specialists, such as the former France defence coach Dave Ellis, are hoping for a call. Ellis has revealed that he has already sent his CV to Twickenham and is holding off from committing to a permanent role elsewhere. "I've been coaching at international level for 12 years but I've always wanted to coach England," he said this week. There are other good English candidates – Jim Mallinder, Toby Booth, Mike Catt, Dean Ryan, Rob Baxter and Ben Ryan could all flourish at the highest level. "My job is to help develop enough coaches who can throw their hats into the ring," says Kevin Bowring, the RFU's head of elite coach development and a member of the five-man panel that installed Lancaster. "We want the best coach for England and preferably we want the best English coach to do it. But the essence of it is knowing what we want and going through a thorough process, which I don't think we've done over the last few appointments." Is he optimistic about Lancaster's time at the helm? "These guys are industrious and they're caring coaches," he says. "I think they will do a good job. Will they get the results? I don't know. But if they do they'll be in a good position to be involved up to 2015."
