When the England team take the field at Twickenham this afternoon to play Ireland, there is not only a dismal RBS Six Nations Championship campaign for them to rescue, but also the England coaching career of Brian Ashton.

The RFU committee men in the stands will be watching with a sense of déjà vu. Only 16 months ago, they were fretting and frowning over the dismissal of Andy Robinson from the head coach’s job. Some of them concede privately that the process is feeling horribly familiar. Indeed, some minds are made up regardless of today’s result; they have seen enough and are convinced that the coaching structure needs to be changed.

One astonishing opinion from within the union is that another England defeat, to follow last weekend’s by Scotland, would be a helpful result. It would clarify the situation, make a convincing case for change, hurry the endgame.

Sources have told The Times that there is also a desire to execute changes to the coaching staff quickly. They recall the handling of Robinson and how they kept giving him chances to prove himself and feel that all they achieved was to waste precious time in the development process.

Yet if that was a lesson learnt, the one significant figure who appears to be ignoring it is Rob Andrew, the kingmaker of England coaches. Andrew appointed Ashton, carried out the exhaustive post-World Cup review and proposed that Ashton continue in the job, and he gave Ashton his backing in The Times yesterday.

“We live in a kneejerk reaction world,” the RFU director of elite rugby said, adding that change is not “something I would consider at this point”. However, if he remains of such an opinion next week, Andrew may find that he is becoming increasingly isolated and that he can no longer persuade the RFU to back his judgment.

In his most recent review, he studied the evidence and concluded, to general surprise, that the England coaching structure, heavily criticised during the World Cup even though they reached the final, should remain unchanged. The Times can reveal, though, that when Andrew presented these views to the RFU’s management board, they were met with a considerable challenge.

Sources say that the management board is unlikely to be so malleable this time. Andrew is thus in an unenviable position: does he continue to back his man and face the challenge of his RFU colleagues, or does he look to replace Ashton and effectively admit that the biggest decision he has taken in his job is one that he got wrong?

The official process for change at the top begins with another post-Six Nations review by Andrew that he will present to Club England, the RFU committee, the views of which then go, with Andrew, to the management board. However, when Robinson’s contract was terminated, that process was ignored, largely because it was clear to Andrew that all parties were in agreement. This is not the case with Ashton.

Another significant supporter of Ashton’s is John Spencer, the former England centre who is also chairman of Club England. “This is not as inevitable as with Andy Robinson,” he said. “It might have been had they not had such a good performance against France. To be all doom and gloom a match later is not appropriate. I would support Ashton to the hilt.”

Spencer’s argument is that the England staff have had little coaching time with the players and that they are more likely to flourish after July 1, when the new long-term agreement between the clubs and the RFU — which gives the coaches better access to the players — kicks in.

However, this is the kind of argument that frustrates the hawks within the RFU, who want quick change. And while it is also clear that completing a new coaching structure by June, when England will tour New Zealand, would be far from simple, this is just another argument that the hawks see as standing in the way of progress. That is why some see the positives to be gained from an England defeat this afternoon — because it so weakens the reasons for giving Ashton more time.

Within the playing squad, there is an atmosphere of resignation. Some cannot understand why the opportunities of Andrew’s post-World Cup review were not taken. The players were interviewed by Andrew and some say they advocated change that would strengthen the set-up by maximising Ashton’s skills rather than further exposing his weaknesses.

However, without any significant change, the vacuum of detailed tactical analysis that haunted the early stages of the 2007 World Cup has been allowed to linger. So there exists a culture in which players see that it is best just to keep their heads down and get on with it.

The best English inside centre in the Guinness Premiership is Olly Barkley, but he has been left out of the squad. Ditto Josh Lewsey at full back. These players were prepared to speak up when they thought that their input might be valuable. The result, sadly, is that the lack of buzz on the pitch is reflected off it. The squad is not a happy place. As one insider said: “You have a situation where the players don’t really want to get in the car to go to training.”

The players have been unable to fathom why they have performed so inconsistently. After the match against Italy last month, they watched video footage of their rucking and counter-rucking and compared their Six Nations performances with the quarter-final against Australia in the World Cup. They were astonished to see how far levels had fallen.

One casualty of the run of poor form is Andy Gomarsall, dropped from the squad and quoted yesterday as saying: “There is a reason why Jonny [Wilkinson] isn’t playing well in this team. It revolves around coaching and it revolves around the style of play. If I were a coach I’d be looking at myself wondering why a player like that isn’t functioning.”

Nevertheless, when today’s match is over, however strong the demands for a change of head coach, the question remains: who is better and can be appointed quickly? The obvious answer is Jake White, South Africa’s World Cup-winning coach, which explains why Andrew is rumoured to have spoken to him of late.

Craig Livingstone, White’s agent, insists that there has been no such contact, although he is unlikely to admit it if there had. Perhaps more significantly, he points out that White has recently tied himself into business commitments.

White is head of marketing for a telecommunications company and brand manager of a financial services group. “I think Jake is unlikely to coach again,” Livingstone said. “Though, of course, you’d never say never.” Which sounds as though White’s price is rapidly rising.

However, Ashton’s value is falling fast. A big England win today and there will be disagreement as to who represents better value.

England's record under Ashton
P 21 W 11 L 10 For 452 Against 471

Tries 38 Conversions 26 Penalty goals 60 Dropped goals 10

High points

Victory over France at Twickenham in 2007 Six Nations, playing with the verve Ashton seeks from his teams.

Victory over France, again, in World Cup semi-final in Paris, a grinding win to reach final and regain pride of a nation.

Low points

36-0 World Cup thrashing by South Africa in pool stage when they looked rudderless.

Defeat by Scotland last weekend when momentum derived from beating France dried up in a typical Murrayfield downpour.