A DAY WHEN NO ONE WON

Hugo Porta, the former Argentina outside-half, lamented earlier this month that rugby union had become a game of muscle rather than skill. His remarks went almost unnoticed here, even though he made them in London, a symptom perhaps of why Martin Johnson this week decided that he had had enough of being England's team manager.

Johnson had spent most of his 40 months in charge of England fending off questions which were not concerned about the playing of rugby (most of those which were game-related tended to be about when he was going to shake up his coaching team or dump Shontayne Hape from his midfield). Even when England were playing well, against Australia last November and at the start of this year's Six Nations, he kept being asked about Chris Ashton's swallow dive and whether the wing would be dropped for disobeying an instruction to touch down in a more conventional way.

"Crap is king," as Don Henley intoned 30 years ago in his song about the media, Dirty Laundry. At least Johnson will not have to clench his teeth as he fields questions about Mike Tindall's drinking and hazy recollection of the immediate past, Manu Tuilagi taking the plunge or Delon Armitage's latest ban. Rugby is not alone: football has long been a saga about its idolised rich, cricket is going down the Twenty20 route of instant gratification and golf has turned into the soap opera of Tiger Woods. It's the Come Dancing/Z Factor/Jungle junk transposed to the back page.

Johnson never disguised his contempt for the media. Contact with them was an occupational hazard and when he reflected over the last month about the excesses of some of his players in New Zealand, he would have cursed them most for providing the media with reasons for engaging in distraction. With the Rugby Football Union's restructuring not due to be resolved until well into the new year, meaning Johnson would not have been sure who he was going to be reporting to, sponsors kicking up and pressure on him to disband his coaching team if he stayed on, it is not surprising that Johnson regarded the prospect of another four years as a torment worse than multiple root canals.

Would he have survived the professional game board's review had he been judged solely by England's performance under him? In terms of results, his record was markedly better than his immediate two predecessors, Brian Ashton and Andy Robinson, and his team achieved something tangible by winning the Six Nations last March.

He endured a difficult start in the autumn of 2008, losing heavily to New Zealand and South Africa at Twickenham. England then played an expansive game but they moved the ball without creating space and got nowhere. The intent was there but not the execution and Danny Cipriani, who will now probably be considering a return to England next year, was the first victim of a tightening up.

England turned into a team that was hard to beat in the 2009 Six Nations, building from the bottom and accumulating yellow cards. After narrowly losing to the eventual grand slam winners in Dublin, Johnson was forced on to the defensive in the after-match media conference and what stood out at the time was the hostility of the some of the questioners to him.

Johnson had not been a popular choice the year before, not just because of his lack of management experience, but because of the widespread feeling Ashton had been hard done by. He was poorly treated by the RFU, left in limbo while discussions were held with Johnson in secret, but if the union were chastised then for acting in peremptory fashion and not fussing about process, there was endorsement this year for the same conduct by those who wanted Sir Clive Woodward brought in as performance director. At least Johnson could not be accused of hypocrisy.

The feeling then was that Johnson needed someone not just to watch over him but to interfere, yet by then England had started to bloom. A victory in Australia in the summer of 2010 was followed by a rampant performance over the Wallabies at Twickenham last November in a masterly exhibition of counterattacking rugby.

Young players had started to blossom under Johnson and his management team, from Ben Youngs and Ashton behind to Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole and Courtney Lawes at forward, soon to be joined by Tom Wood. England were tactically smart in their opening Six Nations match this year against Wales in Cardiff and then ran Italy off Twickenham in a breathless display of running rugby before winning tighter affairs against France and Scotland.

The grand slam in Dublin never threatened to materialise, but Johnson's account was healthily in credit at the end of the tournament. But for all the gains England made in ambition and awareness, they regressed in the summer as they started to prepare for the World Cup. Toby Flood had been a catalyst of the side from outside-half, but after struggling in Dublin he made way for Jonny Wilkinson.

Johnson stressed that World Cups were won by defence and kicking. He opted for power and strength in the centre, ruling out a footballing inside-centre, yet by the quarter-final of the World Cup against France put Flood outside Wilkinson at 12 having wasted the chance to experiment two months before.

It smacked of desperation and England were largely uninspired in New Zealand, lacking a specialist seven and having forwards too often cluttering up the midfield and going to ground immediately after receiving a pass. They were fortunate to beat Argentina and left it late to overcome Scotland. They looked as if they were enduring, rather than enjoying their rugby, unravelling on and off the field.

Johnson was more qualified for the role than he had been in 2008 and England look to have the greatest playing resources going into next year's Six Nations, but he seemed drained at Tuesday's media conference, like Graham Henry when he resigned as Wales coach nearly 10 years ago. "We love to cut you down to size," sang Henley. Johnson, a giant of a player, looked dwarfed by his time in charge.

The media will not mourn his departure, but it is nothing to celebrate. Henry is the choice of some to take over from Johnson, but he was harried out of Wales in 2002 and was a less than popular choice to remain as New Zealand coach in 2007. He has always been prepared to use the media to his advantage but Johnson never tried and he left without telling his interrogators why he was standing down, one small victory on a day that no one won.

JUDGE NOT

Johnson's departure was expected after Mike Tindall was thrown out of the England squad the week before for his behaviour in New Zealand. The centre was punished after an RFU inquiry into the antics of players in New Zealand.

The investigation was not carried out by the union's chief disciplinary officer, Jeff Blackett, and so when the findings of the inquiry were made public, there was little in the way of detail.

Blackett would have published a full report and provided answers to questions such as whether Tindall had misled Johnson, who from the outset mounted a vigorous defence of his player. Was his faith misplaced? Did that explain why no firm action was taken against Tindall at the time?

There are some on the RFU who would like to see Blackett removed as chief disciplinary officer, not least because of his report earlier this year into the hiring and firing of the union's chief executive, John Steele, a report that was typically thorough and transparent.

The way the Tindall affair was dealt with would suggest that it is those who are after Blackett who should make way. If there has been one constant about the RFU in recent years, it is that their disciplinary system has been beyond compare. It has to stay that way.

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