As an operation in saving face, the RFU's explanation yesterday of the removal of Brian Ashton from the job of England head coach was about as convincing as Iain Balshaw under a high ball on a windy day. Indeed, there was a pinch-yourself moment at the comedy when Francis Baron, the RFU chief executive, was asked if the approaches to Martin Johnson had been carried out behind the back of Ashton and he mumbled a bit, turned to Rob Andrew, the union's director of elite rugby, and said that “Rob had been dealing with that”.

Even Johnson struggled to suppress the smile here and, with the words “hospital” and “pass” being whispered around the press conference hall, Andrew embarked on a passage of self-justification that did not quite add up to a complete cleaning-off of the mud from his Teflon coat.

Ashton, Andrew announced, is “very keen to continue working with the RFU”, but in the role of head coach of the national academy. Given that Andrew also claimed that he had been “in touch with Brian all the way through this process” - while every other indication suggests that he was not - one is entitled to wonder how keen Ashton is about the acceptance of his demotion.

But while it is Ashton who has been toppled here, it is Andrew's star that has fallen, too, which was inevitable when juxtaposed with the evidence of recent history: that he appointed Ashton in 2006; backed him after the World Cup; talked about him as a “long-term” appointment in December and, only two days before the final round of matches in the RBS Six Nations Championship (in which England beat Ireland resoundingly), declared publicly that he “didn't envisage making any changes” before the summer tour to New Zealand.

The way Andrew explained it yesterday was that “Brian had made it very clear that he saw it [the team manager] as a No2 reporting in to him. When the serious discussions started [with Johnson] around the role of team manager, they started to differ from the role of team manager that Brian envisaged. That, clearly, was where the difficulty with Brian arose.”

It was unfortunate for Andrew, then, that while he was painstakingly spelling out the issues about where to position the team “manager” and “coach”, Johnson repeatedly spelt out that job titles did not hugely matter - all that mattered, he said, was who was the No1.

In Johnson-speak, therefore, there is only one No1; it had been Ashton and now it was him. And Andrew added that Ashton had “made it clear that he didn't want to be a No2 in the set-up”. However, neither did Johnson ever offer Ashton a No2 role. Indeed, he made it clear that he did not want Ashton in his coaching team because both times he was asked about this, he talked not of his disappointment that Ashton would not work under him, but that it was “time to get some new blood, some new ideas”.

It was also unfortunate for Andrew that, while he was painstakingly explaining his handling of the entire matter, Baron chimed in with the view that “we accept in some respects that the RFU could have handled the process better and lessons have been learnt. It's been too long. It hasn't been a properly focused process.”

Given that it was Andrew who was running this entire process, this sounded like a public clip around the ear. And when Baron added “I do not accept that Brian has not been properly dealt with overall”, this sounded like a careful warding-off of any possible legal action.

On the subject of such litigation, Andrew disclosed that Ashton had asked him to say that “contrary to reports, he will not be suing the RFU”. Indeed, much of this - the choice of words, the offer of another job - does indicate that the RFU's priority has not been Ashton's welfare, but might have been an attempt to escape a hefty payout.

Andrew, for sure, will be relieved that it all appears over. Questions about his ability to do his job have been so loud and public that he said that he had brought along his job description to make his case. And he was so keen to put the saga behind him that when the final question was asked yesterday - “Why did you not start sounding out Johnson during your post-World Cup review?” - he walked out without giving an answer.