Johnson Talks on Hold As Andrew Cries Off Sick

The planned shake-up of the England management team suffered a further delay yesterday when a meeting between Martin Johnson and Rob Andrew was postponed. The former England captain, identified by the Rugby Football Union's board as the figure to bring leadership and direction to the national side currently led by Brian Ashton, was due to meet Andrew, the union's director of elite rugby to discuss the details of the new role. But Andrew cried off after returning from holiday in Greece with a virus and he intends to hold talks with Johnson later in the week.

The RFU is prepared to give the 2003 World Cup-winning captain carte blanche to run the national set-up. Johnson, in a meeting with Andrew at Heathrow last month, indicated that he would be interested to find out what was an offer but he did not commit himself to accepting the post, which has not been given a title or a job description.