With Jim Mallinder on the Ulster radar and Harlequins thinking Kiwi, the English coaching snub grows ever larger

A third English director of rugby announced his departure from the Premiership this week, but why are clubs choosing to go down an unproven Southern Hemisphere path?

Jim Mallinder is a reported target for Ulster, but why aren't English coaches being picked up in the Premiership? (Getty)

Former Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder has emerged as a target for the vacant Ulster Rugby role, and with Harlequins eyeing a replacement for the sacked John Kingston from overseas, the number of Premiership bosses hailing from England next season is set to stand at just a quarter of the league.

The state of elite coaching in England has been of hot debate recently given that the decision to extend Eddie Jones’ contract with the national team by an additional two years was deemed to have been partly due to a lack of successors, while the dismissal of three English directors of rugby in the Premiership this season has caused concern of a growing football-esque hire-and-fire culture.

Traditionalists will argue that rugby clubs should make coaching changes at the end of the season, but with the growing income in the game and the riches available by remaining in the Premiership, the fear of relegation is now one that is much stronger than a decade ago.

With Mallinder dismissed by Northampton Saints last December following their dismal start to the season and Nick Kennedy effectively forced out by London Irish last month, Harlequins followed suit this week to announce that John Kingston will leave his role as director of rugby at the end of the season. While the club statement said that the decision was a “mutual agreement”, the fact that Kingston has signed an extension just three months ago left little in doubt about who severed ties first.

Saints have replaced Mallinder with current Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd, with the Kiwi due to arrive for the start of the new season, while London Irish had already brought in former Ireland head coach Declan Kidney and former Ulster director of rugby Les Kiss to replace Kennedy in an unceremonious exchange. With Quins also looking at New Zealand – which is no surprise given their recently announced partnership with the All Blacks – chances for English coaches in the top flight appear to be dwindling.

The 2018/19 season is likely to kick-off with just three English bosses in the Premiership in the form of Exeter Chiefs’ Rob Baxter, Sale Sharks’ Steve Diamond and Newcastle Falcons’ Dean Richards – although Saracens, Wasps and Gloucester have men at the helm that hail from nearby in Northern Irishman Mark McCall, Welshman Dai Young and Irishman David Humpreys respectively – plus the Irish double-act at the Madejski Stadium.

John Kingston will leave Harlequins by mutual consent at the end of the season (Getty)

The Irish Independent reports that Mallinder, who came close to taking the Cardiff Blues job that will now be filled by Australian John Mulvihill next season, is currently in the frame for the Ulster job, with Quins looking elsewhere. Mallinder has more than 10 years of experience in the Premiership, has taken Saints to the Premiership title and a European final, and has a proven pedigree even if his time at Franklin’s Gardens unravelled at an alarming rate.

If Mallinder can’t find himself a job in the country, who can? And why the sudden desire to have Kiwi leadership at the helm? Yes, the All Blacks have won back-to-back World Cups, but Sir Graham Henry and Steve Hansen are yet to venture to dip their toes in the Premiership and the last time the Premiership title was won by a coach hailing from outside Britain and Ireland came in 2010/11. The Six Nations may well be an Antipodean paradise, but for every Warren Gatland, Joe Schmidt and Eddie Jones, there is a Tom Coventry or an Aaron Mauger, or even an Alan Gaffney who has elicited little response from Northampton Saints before he leaves in the summer.

Should Mallinder follow-up Ulster’s interest, it could prove the making of him. Stuart Lancaster has not only rebuilt his career with Leinster but has advanced it – the former England head coach could end the season with a potential domestic and European double – while Andy Farrell helped Ireland to this year’s Six Nations Grand Slam.

English coaches are excelling abroad, but they can also excel here. It’s about time clubs wake up and realise that.