Mallett could be tempted by England

Nick Mallett has indicated that he would be interested in becoming England's head coach - if a restructured Rugby Football Union approached him next year.

Earlier this month the RFU sounded Mallett out over his availability for the role vacated by Martin Johnson, but family reasons meant the timing was wrong. The 55-year-old is widely regarded as the outstanding candidate for the position, but his refusal to answer to a director of elite rugby - Rob Andrew - would prove a major stumbling block.

But just two weeks after ruling himself out, Mallett said: "You can never say no. The family situation might have changed - I might have spent four or five months at home. My wife might be saying to me 'it's time to get off the sofa and back into coaching'. And the RFU will hopefully have resolved their issues by then."

He added: "At the moment it's hypothetical, but it certainly wouldn't be out of the question. It's a very big job, a huge honour but there are a number of issues to be resolved. I'd never count it out because it's one of the top five coaching jobs in the world."

Mallett objects to the existing chain of command at Twickenham whereby the head coach - or manager in Johnson's case - answers to a director of elite rugby.

The former South Africa, Stade Francais and Italy coach believes coaches should report only to the chief executive and board.

"I don't think a head coach should answer to a performance director quite frankly. I actually don't believe in a performance director," he said.

"Look at previous World Cup winning coaches - I can't remember any team with a director of rugby being successful. It's about making sure the coaching team have good personal relationships and work well together.

"You can't have a performance director appointing a head coach then an assistant coach, then a forwards coach etc, then the head coach has to work with these people....it doesn't work like that.

"Any success comes when the players understand they are responsible to these coaches and are picked or dropped by them. Coaches must then be responsible to the board. Layers of management confuse things."