At least the Rugby Football Union have tried to close the door on further speculation of the kind which has been so damaging to their reputation over the last month. Martin Johnson will have the plenary powers he would want if he is to fill the role of England team manager effectively and he has been given an appropriate time scale in which to operate.

Now all he has to do is pick the right players, which was not always the case with the two previous head coaches, Andy Robinson and Brian Ashton, and the right coaches. That John Wells, Mike Ford and Graham Rowntree remain in post for now does not mean to say that they will still be there in three years time although, given how well Johnson knows Wells and Rowntree in particular from their days at Leicester, they must have a fighting chance.

At least they have been given that chance which is more than Ashton has. Two years ago, when he rejoined the RFU it was as an aide to Robinson who had lost virtually his entire coaching panel thanks to a sweeping RFU review. Now it is Ashton, the man at the top, who goes and his panel remains which is both a harsh commentary on Ashton and also an acknowledgement by the union that they probably promoted the wrong man in the first place.

Ashton would have been far happier, and far more effective, without the trappings which accompany the head coach's role these days but the union failed to find the right hole for this particular peg. Then, having made him head coach in succession to Robinson, they watched him ride a succession of hammer blows, play his part in taking England to an entirely unexpected appearance in the 2007 World Cup final, confirm his situation prior to the 2008 RBS Six Nations Championship and then decide that England were too inconsistent for him to remain.

If there have been inconsistencies here, they belong to the RFU and Johnson will have weighed that up with care before accepting his new role. If leadership was his forte as a player, it is what his new employers desperately want from him now, to paper over their own shortcomings, alongside his native rugby intellect; he will not be a coach as such, though he has picked up enough with England and the Lions to be able to contribute effectively.

But he will lay down the broad parameters, he will be heavily involved in selection immediately, even if he cannot accompany England to New Zealand in June because his wife, Kay, is expecting their second child that month. He will want, above all, to see an England side rediscovering its command of the game's basics - a strong scrum and lineout, an effective back-row combination and good decision-makers at half back.

His three-year period out of the game has allowed him to stand back and review developments, both globally and in England. He has always believed that rugby is a simple game, that if the structures are sound then the winning of games will follow; the interest now will be to see whether, initially, Johnson appears to be conservative or whether he has a radical streak.

Draw a parallel with Dean Richards, the man who also played at Leicester and is now developing a youthful, all-court team at Harlequins. Both Richards and Johnson have similar rugby qualities, they do not necessarily see the game now in the same way as they played it. Johnson knows the country is bulging with young, talented, ambitious players; his job now is to sift them into an effective combination around a hard core of experience, to avoid the constant change of the Robinson and Ashton years.

It will also be a fascinating journey watching the development of Johnson as the public face of the game and handling his paymasters at the RFU. Sir Clive Woodward managed that when he was head coach, Robinson and Ashton did not but now the union should find that they have a Tiger by the tail.