Loose Pass

This week we will be concerning ourselves with coaching vacancies, a national obsession, conference calls and the loss of a legend…

This week we will mostly be concerning ourselves with coaching vacancies, a national obsession, conference calls and the loss of a legend…

It's begun in earnest. England are, incredibly for a team playing such anti-rugby, still within grasp of the Six Nations title. A win for them over Ireland, a loss for Wales and a 39-point differential between those two and England will be champions. The form of both Ireland and France, never mind England and Wales, makes this highly unlikely, but it is still possible.

All of which ought to be complicating things in the minds of the RFU – or perhaps the ludicrously expensive corporate recruitment firm they employed to make a simple rugby decision for them – who will soon need to make a call on the England coaching job.

After Jake White turned the job down earlier this week (with breathtaking arrogance: 'always hard to turn down the chance of winning a World Cup' he tweeted), there really are only two candidates left: Nick Mallett and Stuart Lancaster.

Before the Six Nations that would have been an easy call. But given Lancaster's results success under huge pressure and the clear evidence of the rapport he is developing with his squad, it can't be that easy any more.

Mallett is a clear winner in terms of experience, big-name status and depth of knowledge of the global game; on that basis he is surely the favourite to be offered the role. But what happens to Lancaster if Mallett gets the job has to be considered. If Mallett took the job after all Lancaster's good work, and the Englishman found himself cast adrift, that will not reflect well on English rugby, an organisation already with an image grimier than a village pond. You could only begin to imagine how Lancaster would feel after all his good work too.

The obvious answer for England is to take them both on – Mallett as a Director of Rugby and Lancaster as a Head Coach of some sort; some role that will reward his endeavours in the Six Nations this year.

England have a real chance at a realistic and sustained development with a long-term coach of local origin, even if his initial spell ought to be imbued with Mallett's experienced advice. To fail to acknowledge that now would be a sure sign that England's hierarchy is still well off course.

Moving from England to their vanquished on Sunday, is it just us or are the French fatally obsessed with drop-goals?

Missed drop-goal attempts litter French club rugby matches this season; it seems to be a grand part of the average game plan to take an early lead with a drop, while promising attacks are frequently snapped back for a drop-goal with hundreds of other options still on offer. You often get the impression they are either too tired or too lazy to go get the try, or even maintain the pressure and force a penalty.

When Morgan Parra's touchline conversion took France to within a drop-goal of England on Sunday, the game was up. It was pretty much guaranteed that France would both get to England's 22 – they were by far the stronger team at this point – and then go for the drop-goal. Given the average return on drop-goals, that gave them about a 40 per cent chance at best.

Had Parra missed, France would have had to go for the try. Given the way they were tearing the English up by that point, you'd have backed them to take it. Yet not even the thrust by Rougerie and further break up to the 22 around the fringes tempted the French into actually attacking. Instead, back the ball came and Trinh-Duc tried his luck from 40m, two minutes before the clock had run out, handing England full control and an easy close-out of the game. Is this France's biggest failing at the moment, their inability to think about the jugular?

Over the equator, and the coaches have been doing most of the fighting this week, with Lions coach John Mitchell and Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder each insisting they have the toughest conference. We've already had a chorus of wails from Australia bemoaning the number of local derby matches.

Well, we're not sure what it's all about, but we can give this observation: with the glorious exception of New Zealand, the derby matches make for dismal viewing. Barely one decent-quality derby has been played in Australia this year, while the South African ones feature an awful lot of pace and power, very very little in the way of guile and intelligence. In both countries, the teams seem to be terrified of losing, adopting a 'smash them up and make no mistakes' type of plan. Last Saturday's Reds-Rebels clash was the new low of the season.

Head for New Zealand and you've got teams who all look as though they are still playing for fun, who are willing to try anything from anywhere, who are all playing a 'go out and win it and enjoy your rugby' mentality.

Which of those two makes for a tougher conference is a moot point, but tough or otherwise, the Kiwis are still leading the way when it comes to remembering how to play rugby for fun, win or lose, pay packet or not. As we saw with the Blues at Loftus on Saturday, it gives the NZ teams a little head start when it comes to playing overseas.

Lewis Moody's retirement was always nigh after his latest injury and the disclosure of his chronic and thoroughly miserable illness.

But losing him is a shame for England's game. Moody has epitomised the modern flanker for England, Leicester and Bath down the years, physical, fast, skilled, fearless. And while most of English rugby seemed to have been losing its collective head in recent times, the man known as 'Mad Dog' was outstanding for the manner in which he managed to keep his and remain above the idiocy going on around him.

English rugby has lost a great servant, one who should be fondly remembered.

Loose Pass compiled by Richard Anderson