Rowntree: Lancaster the man to take us forward

Graham Rowntree yesterday sent a strong and impassioned message to Rugby Football Union’s chief executive Ian Ritchie — Stuart Lancaster must be appointed England’s full-time head coach.

Speaking in a room just one floor below Ritchie’s office in Twickenham’s south stand, Rowntree credited Lancaster with dragging English rugby “out of the gutter” during his reign as interim head coach.

When England returned from their disastrous World Cup campaign in New Zealand, of which Rowntree was a part, they skulked, unloved and unrespected, out of a back door at Heathrow Airport.