Natural-born leader: Corry calls for England to give job to Johnno

While head coach Brian Ashton met the RFU's director of elite rugby Rob Andrew at Twickenham, one of the heroic figures of the World Cup campaign cited Johnson as the ideal solution to England's lack of leadership.

'Johnno has got to be involved because he has all the qualities you want in a rugby leader,' said Corry, who retired from international competition in the New Year, 24 hours before he would have been named for the Six Nations.

'In terms of what you are looking for in a leader, he has an aura about him. To start with, he knows the game. He makes the right calls. There has to be an obvious leader, overseeing the whole structure. That's probably what has been lacking and what Brian has been looking for, someone to be at the top to co-ordinate the whole thing while he gets on with coaching.

'Whether it's now or a short time down the road, I don't know but he has to be involved in some way with England going forward. He's such an asset to have. This is not to say whether he wants it or not but just a personal opinion that he has a massive role to play.

'It's true he hasn't had any experience of this kind of position. You don't want to be ironing out your mistakes when you have the most important job in English rugby. Having said that, I would have the confidence that he would be able to do that. As a player and as a leader he made very few mistakes.

'I'm not saying what kind of role he ought to have. Being purely an England supporter, which is now what I am, and knowing what Johnno is like, I'd want to see him in the set-up in some way.

'It's very easy for me to say that and I don't know what conversations have taken place. He does keep his cards very close to his chest. Whenever you try and talk sport to him, first you have to go through the endless hours of talking about American football.'

Corry, taking a break from preparations for Leicester's EDF Energy Cup semi-final against Wasps at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday, delivered a 'disappointing' verdict on a Six Nations' campaign despite England scrambling into second place, four points behind Wales — the biggest margin of any Grand Slam team since Will Carling's England side 16 years ago.

Corry said: 'I saw the positives of the first two games, against Wales and Italy. The way we played in the first half of both was hugely encouraging and that culminated in the excellent win over France.

'The really painful one was the defeat in Scotland. As soon as the weather turned foul you weren't so confident and you began to fear that the script might have been written. You can justify all the other games but that one sticks out. In terms of English progress, that was very disappointing.

'England rugby followers want to be seeing England win championships and Grand Slams. When we are not competing for those titles, questions are always going to be asked. It's important that they are and important to have the pressure which comes with expecting England to be up there.

'We finished second, four points behind Wales. Second? What's second? There were performances which, as an England supporter, made me proud — against Ireland, against France and the first-half of the Welsh game. So it's not all doom and gloom but it's a question of consistency.

'Putting in a great performance against France and then being scuppered at Murrayfield shows we are not quite there yet. Second is not good enough for us.'

On the national debate of changing the head coach, Corry took his time before answering. 'I'm not sure,' he said. 'There's always a danger in someone saying: "We've got to change it" without actually putting down the alternatives. The way I see it, it would be a case of: Here are all the possibilities. Which is the best one for England to win the next World Cup?

'As I am unaware of the alternatives, I am not going to be one of those to say change for change's sake. I'm not opposed to a non- English coach but it would be a last resort. I'd love to see a proud Englishman standing there for the national anthem but it' s a professional game now.'