Ashton riddle as Johnson claims head coach role

His original job description is understood to have changed from team manager since the initial approach from the RFU's director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, 19 days ago.

It underlines the freedom Johnson will have to do the job without interference and raises the awkward fact that the RFU already has a head coach — Brian Ashton.

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He has found himself in limbo since presiding over England's winning finish to the Six Nations, against Ireland at Twickenham last month.

The prospect of Johnson being employed with the same title, no matter his wider responsibilities, will raise still more questions over how the RFU view Ashton's future, assuming he still has one.

Barely a fortnight ago, the RFU's management board gave their unanimous backing for Andrew to 'strengthen the England team structure through the recruitment of a Team Manager and an additional specialist coach'.

While nobody at HQ would have insulted Johnson by thinking of him as a glorified gofer responsible for booking the coach driver rather than driving the entire operation, he had been seen by some as a management figure whose job would be to pick a head coach.

Instead, the plan is for Johnson to fill that position and surround himself with a number of specialists, exactly as Sir Clive Woodward did. The former head coach has advised his former captain to settle for nothing less and to reject the title of manager.

'That would be completely wrong and if he does accept it (the post of manager), I would fear greatly for him,' Woodward wrote in The Sunday Times. 'Worrying about a job title might sound semantic but I assure you it is not. If I were Martin, I would demand the title of head coach.

'This reflects the difference between managing and true, out-and-out leadership. He must be a leader and a visionary.

'If he stands on the touchline "managing" others, and if he simply manages the process instead of leading it, he will fail badly. If he simply stands there watching and snarling, he will soon be unpicked by everybody.'

Woodward urged Johnson to start with a clean sheet — just as he did — appointing his own personnel. 'He has to go in tough, he has to get the RFU chief executive, Francis Baron, to pay people's contracts up and he has to work with people he respects. If that means sacking medical people, physios, analysts, the lot, then it has to be done.

'Both the last two coaches, Andy Robinson and Brian Ashton, made it impossible for themselves by not going in hard at the start and they have paid the price. If Martin keeps Ashton under him or goes for Jake White, it would smack of a compromise.'

As Ashton maintains a dignified silence while trying to go about his business of preparing for the New Zealand tour, Harlequins director of rugby Dean Richards has spoken out in support of the beleaguered coach.

'I have a huge amount of sympathy for Brian Ashton,' he told Rugby Times magazine. 'He's the head coach and yet, as I understand it, no one has conferred with him over what his future is.

'You have to feel sympathy for Brian because he has taken England to the final of the World Cup, come second in the Six Nations and he's being criticised. Whether the structure is right or not, I find it a little strange that it was only 12 or so weeks ago, after the World Cup review, that the RFU were saying: "This is the structure going forward".

'So I don't know why there has been this sudden change. But Brian's kept his silence. He's probably been the most honourable of all. It's a strange way to treat somebody, whether it's Brian or his coaches. They are all in limbo and none of them knows what's going on.'

Austin Healey has confirmed Sportsmail's report last month of a coaching role under Ashton. The former England utility back said: 'I have spoken with Brian about the possibility and told him that I believe I have the technical knowledge and coaching ability to make a difference. That doesn't mean there is a job with my name on it, so I'm not jumping to any other conclusions, either.'

England will not have to worry about Joe Rokocoko in New Zealand in June. The All Black wing, who has scored 43 tries in 48 Tests, is having a wrist operation this week and will be out for up to four months.