English Rugby could be set for a major upheaval in the light of the disastrous World Cup campaign. The RFU are expected to announce this week what action they will be taking based on recommendations by several reviews of the tournament from England’s perspective.

The RFU are currently in a major transitional phase, without a Chief Executive and the National team without a manager. Reports leaked by the Times last week painted a damaging picture of English Rugby, portraying the players as lacking commitment and being solely driven by money, the management incapable of controlling their players and failing to deal with the major disciplinary issues that arose during the tournament.

This week’s announcement is unlikely to include the announcement of Johnson’s successor but could see the role of Elite Perfomance Director, Rob Andrew have his role clarified. Andrew was initially brought in to oversee all matters on the pitch, but it soon apparent that he had no intentions of overruling the team’s management and since then it has been unclear exactly what his responsibility is. This is understood to be an issue the RFU are dealing with.

There may also be an announcement regarding the process of selecting a new head coach or manager. It may also go into more details on who will take what roles in the meantime. It was announced on Tuesday that Graham Rowntree, one of the few England coaches to emerge well out of the leaked reports and Saxons coach, Stuart Lancaster will lead the team in the Six Nations but there are rumours of advisors and consultant’s being brought in to support the pair.

Martin Thomas has also stepped down as Chief Executive of the RFU over the dismall performance of all at Twickenham in recent years.

The RFU and England that arrives at the next World Cup will no doubt be one with a very different make up to that which failed so badly this year. All England fans can hope for is that rather than the usual papering over of the cracks the problems that run deep in the RFU are solved properly and the English Rugby that emerges the other side can go onto once again challenge at the business end of the World Cup.