1 New head coach
The replacement will presumably be English, with the mother country not yet quite able to reach out to an outsider – at least not for the post of head coach. Shaun Edwards must be itching to have a go at being No1, having been No2 to Warren Gatland since early 2008, but he may just be a little eccentric for England, and Wales would be very reluctant to let him go. So, how about Rob Baxter? Tough, fair and one to make team England, like his Exeter, better than the sum of their parts.
2 New assistant coaches
Baxter would take overall control, with a specialist’s eye on the forwards. As his No2, with a fine eye for the backs, how about Wayne Smith, once assistant to Sir Graham Henry and the World Cup-winning All Blacks of 2011 – and with them again now, after being with the Chiefs, back-to-back Super Rugby champions? Smith knows England, having been coach at Northampton between 2001 and 2004.
3 New captain
Tom Wood has been England captain before – and did a fine job on tour in Argentina in 2014 – but the back row is part of the problem for England. The world is going for 7s and England have 6s. A case could be made for Joe Marler. Or better still, what about the returning bad boy, Dylan Hartley? To have missed the Fall – if only because he was in a disgrace of his own – would be a biblical undercurrent in the cleansing waters that must flow.
4 Five players to build the team around (yes, it’s not all bad news)
England historically go to their forwards first and work back. Now they have a back three – Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Mike Brown – that must be served as a priority. That unit counts as one. Henry Slade should be given a chance in the centre and Ben Youngs at scrum-half will be all-important. And if a new forward must be found, why not throw in Maro Itoje, the young Saracen? Dylan Hartley, reformed, chastened, should lead the revival.
5 My XV to play Scotland in the first match of the 2016 Six Nations
Uruguay is no game to launch the new chapter. It’s too much part of the lament. But this could be a team to go to Murrayfield for the Calcutta Cup game in February … it still needs a 7 but until England find one, there’s room for the eternally daft Pyrenean mountain dog, James Haskell.
Backs
15 Mike Brown
14 Anthony Watson
13 Jonathan Joseph
12 Henry Slade
11 Jonny May
10 George Ford
9 Ben Youngs
Forwards
1 Joe Marler
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Maro Itoje
5 Courtney Lawes
6 Tom Wood
7 James Haskell
8 Ben Morgan