boothWith all of the revelations about the England rugby squad in the lead-up to the World Cup in the last week one thing has become abundantly clear: an abhorrent blame culture has developed and infected almost everybody involved in the senior squad set-up, from executive level right down to the tea lady.
Moaning and complaining is part of rugby because of the tension that you get in any team sport. However, a blame culture is something that can spread like a virus and be very damaging. This kind of problem always starts from the top so it must be time Rob Andrew accepts his responsibility in creating this environment.
Whether Andrew does or not is very much up for debate and seeing as he has not so far in his review it is unlikely it will happen any time soon. But Oval Talk has grown weary of the whole debate - something which should have been settled quicker than this in order to move on and prepare for the Six Nations.
England are still without a coach two weeks after Martin Johnson resigned from the post. It is time to look to the future and make finding a new coach the priority rather than everyone blaming each other. And that is exactly what former France defence coach Dave Ellis is doing by championing Toby Booth to be Johnson's successor.
Ellis was France's defence coach for a decade before stepping down after Les Bleus made this year's World Cup final.
He spent two seasons under Booth at London Irish and believes the former Blackheath forward, who he likens to everyone's favourite TV Londoner Del Boy is the perfect candidate to be England's next head coach.
"At London Irish I was fortunate to work with two coaches that I rate very, very highly," Ellis said. "I'm quite surprised that Toby's name has not been mentioned as a potential candidate. Perhaps that is down to London Irish's form but when you consider what he has to work with down there budget wise it is a miracle that they qualify for the Heineken Cup and are always in with a shout for the play-offs."
OT agrees with Ellis as Booth is an exceptional organiser, somebody who would demand discipline and commitment from an England team that has often wavered in recent times. He could also put the right structures in place to build for the future. Booth has a proven track record of bringing through young players at Irish including Alex Corbisiero, Tom Homer and Jonathan Joseph.
With wholesale changes expected in the England coaching set-up, OT would also like to see Ellis himself join forces with Booth as he has the international experience after 12 years and three consecutive World Cups with France. And Ellis has already started to lay out a blueprint for an attacking style of play that he feels England should adopt.
"With the 2015 Rugby World Cup being here there is a fantastic opportunity to do something exceptional," Ellis added. "There is no reason why England cannot play the style of rugby that London Irish play.
"I know Brian Smith was the instigator of wanting to play expansive rugby at London Irish and he tried to do it with England but unfortunately he didn't have the success.
"The trouble with England is that they try to play one form of attack and another form of defence. The two have to be linked together.
"The overall objective should be to go out and try and get the ball off the opposition at key points and in key areas of the game so that you can play rugby, not to close the opposition down and stop them from playing."
So the ideas are there, but what about the desire to join England's coaching set-up? He added: "As a proud Yorkshireman, being involved with England would be superb."
Hopefully Ellis' ideas and thoughts will be heard above all of the blame games at Twickenham.