‘Gatland would fit in better with England than with the All Blacks’

CONTROVERSIAL rugby pundit Neil Francis has joined the New Zealand media in suggesting departing Welsh coach Warren Gatland is better suited to replacing England’s Eddie Jones than Steve Hansen at the All Blacks.

Earlier this month England rugby chief Nigel Melville admitted Gatland is among their targets to succeed Jones and the Rugby Football Union would be holding talks with the New Zealander.

The RFU are set to intensify their search for a new England coach early in the new year, with Jones’s contract ending in 2021.

But a disastrous Six Nations and 2019 World Cup for England could mean Australian Jones leaves earlier than expected.

Former Ireland second-row Francis wrote in his Irish Independent column: “When All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen announced on Thursday that he was stepping down after the World Cup finals, it precipitated a situation where four top coaches in the world will all be out of a job.

“I think Gatland is smart enough to know that he might get one interview (with New Zealand) but he would know that the humiliation from not receiving a second one would not be worth it.

“He has burned too many bridges in his own native land. However, he may advance in hubristic fashion to South West London. It is hard to gauge whether he could deal with the headlines in the Welsh press.

“After those years in the Welsh job he couldn’t take the English job on principle — or could he? He did not publicly distance himself from it.”