Shaun Edwards will be offered new deal

Wales will block any attempt by England to make Shaun Edwards part of a new management set-up following Martin Johnson's failed Rugby World Cup bid by offering him a new deal.

Edwards, the Wales defensive coach who is preparing the team for tomorrow's semi-final against France, completes his current three-year part-time contract with the Welsh Rugby Union once the World Cup ends.

London Wasps are Edwards's main employers and they agreed to release the former rugby league great on a part-time basis in 2008.

Roger Lewis, the WRU chief executive, today revealed negotiations with the English Premiership club would start immediately after the World Cup was over.

England offered Edwards control of the Saxons - their second team - in 2008 but insisted he had to take up a full-time role. Edwards opted instead to link up again with Warren Gatland, the former Wasps head coach who has that role with Wales.

If Wales win the World Cup, the calls for Edwards to have a key position in any new England coaching set-up will become deafening and having secured Gatland until after the 2015 Cup, Lewis is now targeting Edwards.

Lewis said: "We have a great relationship with all our coaches and we hope our relationship with Shaun continues. Shaun is outstanding for Wales but it is important to understand that London Wasps are his principal employers and we only have Shaun on release from Wasps. That has to be respected and any discussion must take place with Wasps first. We decided it would be inappropriate to hold any discussions before or during the tournament. Once the Cup is over, we will have talks."

The fall-out from England's blighted campaign continued today, with lock Courtney Lawes becoming the third England player to be fined £5,000 for wearing a sponsor's gumshield in the tournament, joining captain Lewis Moody and centre Manu Tuilagi.

Meanwhile, Quentin Smith, the chairman of Premier Rugby Ltd, the umbrella organisation of English rugby's top clubs, has accused the RFU of "panic management" for instigating an outside review of the England team undertaken by Fran Cotton.

Smith, who is a renowned mediator in major industrial disputes, said: "This isn't crisis management, this is panic management. There is a complete lack of focus from the RFU about what to do and how to do it.

"In the eyes of the host nation and the IRB, England have behaved badly and we found the opportunity to apologise to the New Zealand RFU in the absence of any contrition from the RFU and it isn't our team.

"We felt embarrassed because the event had been tarnished by bad behaviour. There is no basis to set up an external review."