Austin Healey picks his controversial replacement for Eddie Jones

“The last two years have not been anywhere near good enough. If England lose on Saturday, something has to change,” Healey wrote.

“One of the major problems is that Jones is always coming up with good excuses. There has always been a complaint, a theme, a change of staff. I cannot see Eddie working for anyone else. So, if you said you wanted to put someone above him in a director of rugby role, he would pull the plug himself. 

“Even though in that scenario you could have someone there to control selection, the media and enable Eddie just to coach – and he is undoubtedly a good coach, as we have seen many times.

“Then you might be in a better position. The names that come to mind are Stuart Lancaster, Mark McCall or Rob Baxter – although I could never see Baxter leaving Exeter. 

“Does Warren Gatland want the job? Could you tempt him back from the Chiefs in New Zealand to come and take over before the All Blacks consider appointing him in 2023?”

The irony with Farrell is that he is arguably the most obvious candidate and fits the role as well as anyone, but he might be the toughest for the RFU to land due to his long-term deal with Ireland.

Roberson is one of the most revered coaches in the southern hemisphere. The 46-year-old is a serial winner and has all the tools to bring back the insatiable winning mentality which has been missing for Eddie Jones' men of late.

Baxter is rapidly approaching the 12th anniversary of his time in charge at Exeter Chiefs and it may be difficult to prize him away from that. But there is no doubt about his credentials; his time in charge at the Chiefs has seen the club change beyond recognition. 

Should they go in the direction of Gatland, they would get a man with incredible international experience who helped change the face of Welsh rugby during his 12 years in charge of the country up to 2019. With a host of international honours to his name and an already extensive knowledge of English talent thanks to his continued involvement with the Lions, this would arguably be the most risk free option on this list.

He conquered the world with South Africa in 2019 and the only logical next step after such a feat would be to take the grandest and most high-profile job in world rugby. It is not a far-fetched notion, either; reports in the South African press last year suggested that Erasmus had held talks with the RFU about succeeding Jones, which were subsequently denied. He'd also been recently linked with Harlequins.