The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
More support for Stuart Lancaster
FLY-HALF TOBYFLOOD has added his voice to calls for Stuart Lancaster to be made the full-time England coach.
Interim boss Lancaster restored pride to English rugby in the wake of a dismal World Cup showing beset by off-field problems and poor performances by leading the Red Rose to second in the RBS 6 Nations.
Under the guidance of the former Leeds boss, England won four of their five games and were only denied a potential Grand Slam after being pipped by Wales at Twickenham.
Lancaster was also rewarded for putting faith in young talents such as Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell and Scarlets number eight Ben Morgan, who turned in outstanding performances.
Lancaster was interviewed for the post last week, along with former Southafrica and Italy coach Nick Mallett, and there is a groundswell of opinion that the former should land the role.
Leicester outside-half Flood (26), who played just one game in the Six Nations after recovering from a knee injury, agrees.
He said: “It is difficult. Stuart did an excellent job in the Six Nations.
“He created an environment where all the boys were keen to work hard for each other.
“If you take into account what he has managed to do in such a short space of time then he has to get the job.
“He gave a lot of the younger guys a chance and he created a winning team that narrowly missed out on a Grand Slam in the game against Wales. But the RFU have to take all sorts of things into account such as experience and knowledge of players, things that we do not know about as players.
“But Stuart certainly did himself no harm at all with the way he did the job during the Six Nations.”