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Leading the red rose
John GriffithsJuly 23, 2014
It would be interesting to see a summary of the Test records for all of England's head coaches? Peter Clark, England
Don White, the former Northampton and England flanker, was the first officially appointed England national team coach. His first game in charge was the December 1969 meeting with South Africa at Twickenham where England won 11-8 - their first-ever victory over the Springboks.
Only three England lead-coaches have overseen Test wins against all three of the Tri-Nations - John Elders in the early 1970s, Geoff Cooke during the Will Carling era and Sir Clive Woodward on his way to steering the side to the 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph.
| Lead coach | Dates | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don White | 1969-71 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 32% |
| John Elders | 1972-74 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 41% |
| John Burgess | 1975 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 17% |
| Peter Colston | 1976-79 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 36% |
| Mike Davis | 1979-82 | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 69% |
| Dick Greenwood | 1983-85 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 29% |
| Martin Green | 1985-87 | 14 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 36% |
| Geoff Cooke | 1987-94 | 49 | 35 | 1 | 13 | 72% |
| Jack Rowell | 1994-97 | 29 | 21 | 0 | 8 | 72% |
| Clive Woodward | 1997-2004 | 83 | 59 | 2 | 22 | 72% |
| Andy Robinson | 2004-06 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 41% |
| Brian Ashton | 2007-08 | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 55% |
| Rob Andrew* | 2008 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% |
| Martin Johnson | 2008-11 | 38 | 21 | 1 | 16 | 57% |
| Stuart Lancaster | 2012- | 30 | 18 | 1 | 11 | 62% |
* Andrew acted as caretaker coach for the two Tests in New Zealand in 2008 at the start of Martin Johnson's tenure.
John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.
