Retiring England captain Lewis Moody has told Sky Sports News it is essential that Martin Johnson leads the side into the 2015 World Cup.
Lessons must be learnt from New Zealand's failure in 2007
Retiring England captain Lewis Moody has told
Sky Sports News it is essential that Martin Johnson leads the side into the 2015 World Cup.
Johnson's future as manager is still in doubt following England's disappointing World Cup campaign but Moody - who led the side in New Zealand - insists his former Leicester teammate must stay in charge if England are to regain the Webb Ellis trophy on home soil.
Asked if Johnson should stay on, Moody replied: "Absolutely. It was less than a year ago that Johnno took us to our first Six Nations victory in seven yers.
"He has built this team and given a new lease of life to it. Young guys coming in... Ben Youngs, Dan Cole, Courtney Lawes, Chris Ashton, Ben Foden... all those guys he has brought in and they have really flourished in the international scene.
"I think to have a knee-jerk reaction and to get rid of him would be very wrong. Probably the bigger question is does Johnno want to continue? I really hope he does. He is definitely the man in my eyes to take us through to 2015."
And Moody sees plenty of similarities to other World Cup-winning coaches who have been given a chance to build on a disappointing first World Cup campaign.
"You can compare Graham Henry's disappointment in 2007 when they were knocked out by France in the World Cup. The New Zealand rugby union stuck by him and now he has reaped the rewards in 2011.
"It was the same to some degree in '99 with Clive Woodward and the team that won in 2003, so I think it's important that Johnno stays."
Responsibility
England's stay in New Zealand was marred by a number of high-profile off-the-field incidents and Moody admits that to some extent he blames himself for the problems.
He added: "As captain I take my responsibility very seriously and you feel everything that happens personally, so you have to stick your hand up and say in hindsight I wish I'd done more.
"I have questioned myself since. As players we take the responsibilty on to have the interests of the team at heart whatever we do and whenever we do it. But ultimately as players we didn't perform as well as we could do on the pitch and that is the thing that really disappoints me."
