Lancaster, the RFU Head of Elite Player Development and England Saxons Head Coach, will be assisted by Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell, who will be seconded from Aviva Premiership Champions Saracens.

“All three of us are really excited about the opportunity ahead. Andrew has done an outstanding job at Saracens and the Saxons; Graham has enormous respect from the players and has vast experience and I am confident that we can work well together as a coaching team,” said Lancaster.

“The World Cup was enormously disappointing but we shouldn’t forget that England won 10 out of 13 games this year and a Six Nations title. We have a promising group of players to go forward with and the challenge for Graham, Andy and myself is to get the best out of them.”

RFU Acting Chief Executive Stephen Brown said: “It was important that, following the recommendations of the Professional Game Board and the commitment we made as an RFU Board last week to implement them, an Interim Head Coach was appointed as soon as possible.

“Stuart is not only an experienced coach but his role as Head of Elite Player Development puts him at the forefront of producing international players. He will be well supported by Graham, with all his experience with England and the British Lions and Andy, who has helped Saracens become one of the leading clubs in the country and we are grateful to them for allowing Andy to join us on a temporary basis. We believe this coaching team is the right one to collectively take England forward in the short term.”

Profile

A level 5 qualified coach, Stuart Lancaster has been Saxons Head Coach and the RFU’s Head of Elite player Development, straddling all of England’s age group and development sides, since 2008.

During his tenure England Saxons have won 12 out of 14 matches, picking up three Churchill Cups on the way (’08, ’10, ’11); England U20 have been in three out of four Junior World Championship finals and last year secured an RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam; and the U18 side boast an 89% win record since the start of the 07/08 season.

Penrith-born Stuart, a former PE teacher, has galvanised his success that began with Leeds Carnegie. A flanker and captain in his playing days at Headingley from 1992-2000, he was the academy manager there from its inauguration in 2001 until 2005 and developed some of the brightest prospects in the game.

He was then appointed as Carnegie’s Director of Rugby and led them back to the Premiership following a title winning season in 2006-07.

As a player, Stuart first laced up his boots when ten at St Bees School where he was educated and became the first Leeds player to appear in a century of games for the club formed in 1991 from the amalgamation of Headingley and Roundhay.

High spots in a career that produced junior county honours at cricket feature the 2010 Churchill Cup in which the Saxons beat Russia (49-17), the USA (32-9) and Canada (38-18) to lift the title with a try ratio of 15 to four. Beating Otley to secure promotion to the Premiership with Leeds and guiding the Carnegie Academy to win T’owd Tin Pot, the Yorkshire Cup, against senior opposition stands highest on his club pedestal. Dating back to 1877-78, it is reputed to be the oldest rugby union competition in the United Kingdom.

Outside the game, Stuart’s wife Nina and kids Sophie and Dan share in his triumphs and outside interests and in his formative years, he says: “Peter Winterbottom was the player I most admired.” The accomplished and combative ‘Winters’, a fellow Headingley flanker known affectionately as the ‘Straw Man’, won 58 England caps and seven for the British & Irish Lions from 1982-93.

What is Stuart’s philosophy about the game? “The score will take care of itself!”

But those very qualities have been personified by one supporter whose epic journey to the match has set an inspiring tone for the Scotland team, who must win the match and deprive England of a bonus point to have the best chance of sustaining their interest in the competition through to next week’s knockout stages.

Stuart MacDonald, an experienced sailor from Largs, set out on the River Clyde in his 38ft boat Beyond in May 2010. In the 16 months since his departure he has crossed the Atlantic and the Pacific, undertaking the vast majority of the trip single-handed.

His motivation, since he navigated the Panama Canal earlier this year, was to get to Auckland in time for Saturday 1 October, as a friend had secured him a ticket for the Scotland v England Rugby World Cup match.

Today, Stuart duly arrived in Auckland and was congratulated on his voyage in person by Scotland captain Alastair Kellock.

Kellock said: “We have enjoyed fantastic support while we have been in New Zealand, whether from those who have travelled here or from fans in the country itself.

“But to travel 12,000 miles the hard way is a monumental effort. It’s very humbling and I know the players will be inspired by Stuart’s amazing dedication.”

Stuart explained: “I had set out with the idea of getting to New Zealand for Rugby World Cup and it was about the time that I was approaching the Panama Canal when I knew for sure that I had a ticket for the Scotland v England game.

“It became pretty important to get down here in time for the game! In actual fact the normal boats do not leave the islands to come down here for another month or so because it’s too early in the southern hemisphere spring.

“One or two people said ‘What are you going now for?’ but I just had to get down.”

The last leg of his journey was the 1,000 miles from Tonga. His first attempt he had to about turn as the weather just wasn’t right but he got the break he needed and duly reached Whangerei, north of Auckland on Thursday.

Scottish Rugby’s Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Dominic McKay, said: “We all know that Scotland has the most resourceful and resilient supporters and Stuart’s fantastic voyage to see the team in tomorrow’s game just sums it up.

“We are delighted that he has arrived in time for the game and was able to pass on some details of his journey to our captain.”

Our picture shows Stuart MacDonald, Scotland captain Alastair Kellock and Scottish Rugby’s Dominic McKay.

The continuing partnerships of Hallam and Roberts, Flockhart and Williams and Kenworthy and Challinor continue to provide stability and the Knights look to add consistency to their game.

The team is:

15 Steve McColl
14 Dougie Flockhart
13 Oli Goss
12 PJ Gidlow
11 Matt Williams
10 Tristan Roberts
9 Chris Hallam
1 Stuart Corsar
2 Steve Boden
3 Michael Cusack
4 Matt Challinor
5 Glen Kenworthy
6 Andy Boyde
7 Neil Cochrane (c)
8 Ed Jackson
16 Steve Lawrie
17 Lewis Thiede
18 Dom Parsons
19 Zack Farivarz
20 Peter Jericevich
21 Christian Lewis-Pratt
22 Andy Wright

Junior Fatialofa makes his first start for Bristol this season, replacing Jack Adams who moves to the bench.

Jamie Miller shows the only other change to last week’s team, coming in for James Merriman at open side flanker.

Bristol Rugby Vs Doncaster Knights, Sunday 12th September. KO 3pm.

Bristol XV: Jack Tovey; Sean Marsden, Junior Fatialofa, Ed Barnes, Dan Norton, Nicky Little, Richard Bolt; Mako Vunipola, Ollie Hayes, Wayne Thompson, Ben Glynn, Roy Winters, Iain Grieve ©, Jamie Miller, Dan Montagu

David Blaney, Billy Moss, Darren Barry, James Merriman, Sam Alford, Adrian Jarvis, Jack Adams

Knights Director of Rugby Lynn Howells has made five changes from last week’s team for this Sunday’s Championship match away at Bristol on Sunday:

•in the centre Chris Briers, injured for last Saturday, comes in for Paul Devlin who reverts to the bench;
•at scrum half Chris Hallam gains a recall in place of the injured Nathan Jones
•at prop, summer signing from Harlequins, Dan Frazier comes in for Lewis Thiede who swaps place with him on the bench
•at lock talismanic Glen Kenworthy starts in place of the injured Matt Challinor, and
•at flanker Andy Boyde comes back for Latu Makaafi who was injured against Moseley.
•also starting on the bench for the first time this season are hooker Tom Doughty, prop Stuart Corsar and lock Dom Parsons

Doncaster Knights XV: 15 Stevie McColl 14 Douglas Flockhart 13 Chris Briers 12 PJ Gidlow 11 Matt Williams 10 Tristan Roberts 9 Chris Hallam
1 Dan Frazier 2 Steve Lawrie (Capt) 3 Michael Cusack 4 Glen Kenworthy 5 James Craig 6 Andy Boyde 7 Neil Cochrane 8 Ed Jackson

Replacements: 16 Tom Doughty 17 Lewis Thiede 18 Stuart Corsar 19 Dom Parsons 20 Chris Walker 21 Oli Goss 22 Paul Devlin

Ormesher is taking over from current Blues Academy Manager Stuart Low who, having taken on a new business role which sees him travelling frequently, has had to step down from his role with the Colts.

Low has headed up the Academy for the last two years during which time they have won the National Colts Plate in 2009 and Cup in 2010, and secured the Oxford 10s in 2010 and the National Academy Sevens Shield in 2009.

Ormesher spent eight years coaching at the Blues Academy before moving to Luton two years ago to take up the role of Director of Rugby. Denis is a Level Four coach as well as being a RFU Coach Educator and has a wealth of coaching experience having led the Blues to two National Colt Cup victories in consecutive years

The new Academy structure sees Mark Alderton joining Denis as lead coach, but they will also be assisted by Steve Guest and Blues stars Dan Richmond and Ian Vass. Mark, Steve and Dan are all Level Three coaches while Ian has his Level Two badge.

Blues Director of Rugby, Mike Rayer said: “Stuart has done an outstanding job over the last two years and the Club have been lucky to have had a guy who has brought so much dedication and expertise to the role.

“The Academy continued its core principles during his time, developing rugby players to their best ability, with many players progressing on to the first XV or senior level rugby in the national leagues. We are sorry to see him go, and he will always be a welcome visitor at Goldington Road.

“We are in the very lucky position of having Denis rejoining the Blues as he knows the club and the Academy and his experience in player development, coaching, and mentoring coaches will be invaluable.

“We’ve had a lot of players breaking through into the first team from the Colts and you only have to look at the current squad to see players like Sacha Harding, Will Chudley, Chris Locke, Duncan Taylor and Darryl Veenendaal who all came through the set-up.

“With Denis on board, and our new coaching structure in place, we look forward to a bright future for the Blues Academy and I’m sure that we will see more developing players breaking into the Blues first XV.”

Coach John Fletcher was always confident that his side had the talent to test the visitors and they fulfilled all his expectations in holding the whip-hand from the moment full-back Jonathan Joseph (London Irish) crossed for the opening try and fly-half Jake Sharp (Saracens) converted.

Sharp claimed the second after 19 minutes and converted his own score for a 14-0 lead and while Australian centre Matthew Garland cut the deficit with a 29th minute try to raise the visitors’ morale and make the interval scoreline 14-5.

However, a third try from wingman Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors) on 40 minutes opened up the lead once again, although once again the tourists refused to concede the struggle and rallied with a try by flanker Jack de Guingand that scrum-half and captain Matthew Lucas converted to bring his side within a score at 19-12.

Sharp then steadied the home team’s nerves with a penalty before leaving the field as a precaution ahead of an outing on the Saracens bench against Castres on Friday, but Joseph had the last word when he crossed for the final try after 68 minutes.

A cameo moment for the hosts came when 16-year-old replacement centre Mark Jennings from Lymm High School and Sale Sharks took the field when the management elected to use all their replacements.

The tourists now stay in the North West to prepare for their next game, an international against England Under 18s at Sale FC’s Heywood Road headquarters on Sunday (2pm), when coach Fletcher will once again be in charge.

“The game was very tough, physical battle,” said Fletcher: “We lacked precision at times and it was a bit scrappy but for us to score four tries against opposition of that calibre after only half a day’s preparation was a pretty good effort,” said Fletcher. “So far as the tourists are concerned, they compete well for the ball and they are very dangerous in broken play situations, as you would expect.”

England U19 Regional Academies 27 (Tries: Joseph 2, Sharp, Collins. Con: Sharp 2. Pen: Sharp) Australia Schools 12 (Tries: Garland, De Guingand. Con: Lucas)

England Academies squad: forwards: Harry Allen (Saracens), Pete Austin (London Irish), Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers), Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers), Ben Glynn (Bristol Rugby), Tom Hicks (Northampton Saints), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Charlie Matthews (Harlequins), Jethro Rawling (Leicester Tigers), Ollie Steadman (Leeds Carnegie), Henry Thomas (Sales Sharks), Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby). Backs: Tommy Bell (Sales Sharks), Earl Collins (Worcester Warriors), Owen Farrell (Saracens), Ryan Glynn (Sales Sharks), Mark Jennings (Sale Sharks), Jonathan Joseph (London Irish), Jake Sharp (Saracens), Andy Short (Worcester), Sam Stuart (Harlequins), Marcus Watson (London Irish).

Before he underwent knee surgery, Rennie’s last outing was for Edinburgh against Glasgow in late December and the 23-year-old says he is delighted to return.

Rennie said: “I’m excited to be back playing again and I would like to thank everyone who has helped me to recover from my injury, especially Edinburgh physio Jo Stephen, conditioning coach Bill Knowles and surgeon Andy Williams.”

Gemmell believes Rennie will be an asset to the side and says he is looking forward to the ground-breaking contest.

Gemmell said: “The game has come at the right time for Ross and it is great for us to be able to include a Scotland internationalist in our squad.

“I’m sure the commitment Ross will show when he pulls on the jersey for this team will be the same as he produces for every team he represents.

“It is a clear example of the benefit of being involved in the British and Irish Cup in terms of providing players with opportunities and we are aiming to put down a marker.

“We are all looking forward to it. The two warm-up games have been beneficial. This match will be a step up and it is an away fixture which is never easy.

“But I think the squad we have selected has got a good balance of professionals and up-and-coming Academy players.

“We want to go down and show everybody involved in the competition and rugby supporters everywhere that we have got good players here in Scotland.”

Gemmell has selected a starting line-up with an average age of just 23 and with three National Academy players, prop Nicky Little, back row forward Stuart McInally and centre Stevie Wilson in the starting XV.

Meanwhile, Gemmell has also appointed David Blair as captain and revealed he believes the stand-off is the right man to lead the team in their first ever competitive match.

He added: “I thought it was important that we had some continuity in the team and David has led the side in the first two preparation games.

“At stand-off, he is playing in a pivotal position where he is asked to make a lot of decisions based on how we want to play the game.

“He showed us in the two warm-up matches that he can shoulder that responsibility well and he is somebody we want to run the game for us.

“So it is natural that we want him to captain the team. That continuity helps to build the identity of the team and he has got experience of playing for Scotland ‘A’ and Edinburgh.”

Gael Force will represent Scotland in the competition alongside last season’s Scottish Hydro Premier Division 1 champions Ayr and reigning Scottish Hydro Cup holders Heriot’s in the new cross border competition. Gael Force are sponsored by Spire Murrayfield Hospital, Scottish Rugby’s official healthcare partner.

Gael Force squad to play Cornish Pirates in the British and Irish Cup at Recreation Ground, Camborne (Sunday 22 November, kick-off 2pm)

• 15 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors)
• 14 Chris Kinloch (Glasgow Warriors)
• 13 Hefin O’Hare (Glasgow Warriors)
• 12 Stevie Wilson (National Academy and Edinburgh Academicals)
• 11 Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh)
• 10 David Blair (captain, Edinburgh)
• 9 Ross Samson (Edinburgh)
• 1 Nicky Little (National Academy and Hawick)
• 2 Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors)
• 3 David Young (Edinburgh)
• 4 Tim Barker (Glasgow Warriors)
• 5 Dan Turner (Glasgow Warriors)
• 6 Fraser McKenzie (Edinburgh)
• 7 Ross Rennie (Edinburgh)
• 8 Stuart McInally (National Academy and Watsonians)

Substitutes: Sean Crombie (Edinburgh), Colin Phillips (National Academy and Stewart’s Melville), James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors), Callum Forrester (Glasgow Warriors), Peter Jericevich (National Academy and Glasgow Hawks), Ross Aitken (National Academy and Howe and Fife), Tom Bury (National Academy and Boroughmuir).

Paul Hull

Paul Hull has stepped down from his role as Assistant Coach to the England Saxons.

Hull took up the post of Assistant Coach, working alongside Head Coach Stuart Lancaster, in January 2009.

Together Lancaster and Hull guided the Saxons to a 66-0 victory against Portugal in the 2009 Six Nations before travelling to Denver for the Churchill Cup, beating Argentina Jaguars (28-20) and USA (56-17) on the way to the final where they lost out to Ireland A.

After arriving home from the USA, Hull returned to Bristol Rugby to resume his new position as Head Coach after the departure of Richard Hill in February 2009.

Explaining his departure from the Saxons, Hull said, “I gave a lot of thought to the decision to leave the Saxons set-up. I met with Stuart and we went over the schedules for both Bristol and the Saxons and it became apparent that my time would be spread too thinly.”

“When I took up the role in the Saxons I was Assistant Coach at Bristol and was able to combine the two roles without it affecting one another. However, now as Head Coach, the job is significantly more demanding and I want to give it my full attention. I’m dedicated to Bristol Rugby and our campaign to achieve promotion.”

“I also have a young family, and recently learnt that we have another addition on the way. Obviously your family always comes first and with my commitment to Bristol Rugby, both myself and Stuart decided that it would be logical for me to step down from the Saxons.”

“I would however like to thank Stuart and the coaching team at England Saxons for inviting me to the position at the beginning of the year. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Saxons coaches’ and players’ and my time with them has provided invaluable experience as I continue my development as a coach and I wish them all the best in their next campaign.”

Said Lancaster, “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul for his contribution to the Saxons last season. The management and the players’ valued his contribution both on and off the field and wish him and Bristol well for the rest of the season.”

The press are put through their paces at the third RFU Elite Rugby Department media day

England are aiming to generate a galaxy of new stars by plugging in to the satellites.

Today’s RFU podcast went behind the scenes with the Elite Rugby Department to discover the latest innovations in sports science.

RFU Head of Elite Player development Stuart Lancaster said: “We have got to raise the bar with things like GPS (Global Positioning System).

“With player tracking you get a small monitor which sits in a harness on your back and it tracks the movements you would make in a training session. So from a coaching point of view what you get is real life feedback on the intensity of a session, the distance and the speed which a player runs and it allows you to see whether they are doing too much or too little.

“We want to be world leaders and if we do that the output will be better players who play better for Guinness Premiership clubs and ultimately better internationally, so it’s important that we keep at the forefront of sports science.”

Also on this week’s podcast

• Rob Andrew on the RFU’s programme to develop better athletes from a younger age which has produced the likes of Jordan Turner-Hall, Noah Cato and Courtney Lawes
• Mark Mapletoft talks about the influence of mental skills coach Matt Thombs on his Under-20s side which have reached successive Junior World Championship finals
• Martin Johnson on filling the shirts vacated by the injured Riki Flutey and Delon Armitage for the Investec Challenge series
• And Jason Leonard salutes the facilities at Sudbury RFC’s new £1.5 million Whittome Field clubhouse in Suffolk

Click here to listen to the RFU podcast