England have specialist coaches for most aspects of the game

Director of elite rugby Rob Andrew has given a vote of confidence to England's coaching set-up after the side fell to three heavy defeats in November.

The coaching team of Brian Smith, John Wells, Jon Callard, Graham Rowntree and Mike Ford have been criticised after a disappointing autumn campaign.

"I'm very happy with where the coaching team is," Andrew told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"(Manager) Martin Johnson has absolute freedom to choose the coaches he wants and he is very happy with that."

England kicked off the Johnson era with an encouraging 39-13 victory over the Pacific Islanders, but demoralising defeats at the hands of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand have seen the team drop down to sixth in the world rankings.

With specialist coaches for the forwards (Wells), attack (Smith), defence (Ford), kicking (Callard) and scrummaging (Rowntree) all working under Johnson's leadership, some have questioned whether England have the right men in place.

"When you play against the three best teams in the world on consecutive weeks you find out exactly where you are and what you need to do - we've found out a lot of things," said Andrew.

It's a three-year journey, not a three-week journey RFU director of rugby Rob Andrew

"But all the others were heavily involved in dragging the team to the World Cup final just over a year ago. They are very experienced and are having to work with a very inexperienced group of players."

Johnson admitted there was plenty of room for improvement among both players and coaches.

"We need to improve in everything we do as a team," said Johnson.

"As coaches we'll look at what we've done and see how we can get better."

England's starting line-up against New Zealand on Saturday had a combined total of 275 caps, compared to the All Blacks' 647, and Andrew said the disparity in experience made England's results over the autumn somewhat predictable.

"Martin probably wouldn't agree with this but the results weren't t totally unexpected, given the rebuilding process we're going through," said Andrew.

"There has been a decision to start to look forward and not waste too much of the next 12 or 18 months on players who we don't feel are going to make it to the next World Cup."

Andrew said England fans needed to be patient with a team packed full of young players.

606: DEBATE Do England need yet another shake-up in their coaching team?

"It is going to take time. A generation has gone missing which is why this next young generation has been thrown in at the deep end.

"I think England supporters understand the difficulties and the difficult job that Martin has been given.

"I'm sure with a young and inexperienced side there will be more rocky moments as there were in the late 1980s and in the late 1990s before good sides emerged.

"But where we are with English rugby at the moment is that in many respects there is no choice. We can't go back to the well to bring the 2003 and 2007 guys in."

One problem for Johnson and Andrew is that young players in English rugby often struggle for first-team action, with coaches preferring to field experienced overseas players.

Andrew floated the idea of making the EDF Energy Cup an Under-25 competition, while he also wants to improve the quality of the Guinness A League, the tournament for top flight clubs' second teams.

Nevertheless, Johnson insisted he was right to go with youngsters like Ugo Monye and Danny Care rather than more experienced alternatives.

"They were playing the best rugby - they are our best players at the moment," said Johnson.

"We chose the team we wanted to choose. If they are our best players, it doesn't matter if they've got two or 20 caps - they are going to get a go. You have to get those guys experienced."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version