Ashton out to produce a different England

SIX NATIONS COUNTDOWN: One of the curiosities of this tournament is that it features two former Ireland coaches, and they go head-to-head next Saturday when England play hosts to Wales and new coach Warren Gatland, who succeeded Brian Ashton as Irish coach in 1997.

Gatland upped the ante last week when he claimed - out of genuine empathy for Ashton - that the RFU "lacked the balls" to give Ashton more than a rollover, one-year contract and that this would compromise his approach.

Ask Ashton whether this tournament is merely something to get through, before he finally stamps his mark on England, he replies: "I look on it in three stages in terms of when it finishes for me. The first stage of that is the Six Nations, and we just go through that game by game. I learned that from the World Cup. If you project your thoughts too far ahead in a tournament that's as unpredictable as this one, and factor in that the players do come backwards and forwards with their clubs, you're probably jumping ahead too quickly.

"So we'll just go through it game by game. But as I've said, I've got full confidence in the group of players we've selected to do a really good job."

Though he declined to develop his thinking, the second is presumably to start experimenting in the summer with a view to building a team for the 2011 World Cup. Injuries have already piled up, with the London Irish scrumhalf Peter Richards - Ashton said he was "right at the top of his form" - already ruled out of the tournament, and Simon Shaw hors de combat for at least the opening skirmishes.

Last weekend's full programme of club matches was a further reminder that, despite the clubs and Twickenham finally reaching a long-term accord, in the short-term Ashton is handicapped by the demands of the domestic game.

Mark Regan was forced off with a neck problem during Bristol's defeat at Worcester, although his club later said it was not serious, and Mike Tindall - liable to be a significant figure this season - is nursing ribs after Gloucester's game with Wasps.

Ashton admits, eve-of-tournament, that he would be "disappointed" if England weren't in contention for the title this year, albeit with the rider that the Premiership will probably exact further damage as well as limit their time together compared to other teams. "That's the situation as it is. That's how we deal with it. I'm very confident in the group of players we've got to have a fairly successful Six Nations."

Nothing grates on the Welsh psyche in a Six Nations context more than their inability to win at Twickenham since 1988, shipping an astonishing 296 points in their last six visits there at almost 50 a match. Yet Wales often travel to Twickenham full of thunder and optimism, and Ashton sees several reasons why they might well do so this week.

"I think on a couple of levels Wales will be very motivated. First of all, they haven't won at Twickenham in 20 years, so that's a pretty motivational factor in itself. Secondly, I think they will look at the World Cup and feel they probably didn't achieve as much as they wanted to and they'll look to bounce back from that. And thirdly, I echo what Phil (Vickery) said about Shaun Edwards, and I know Warren Gatland really well on a personal level as well as a coaching level. I think they will in time - and I hope it's not too quickly - do a fantastic job for Wales.

"But the fourth factor is that when a new coach comes in, in the first game or two, you very often get an immediate lift in spirits and they go out and play much better than they have done before. It all serves up a very intriguing test next Saturday at Twickenham."

As one of three coaches still in situ, Ashton would like to think that England can benefit from a degree of continuity. "What we've got is that we did fairly well in the World Cup and we've kept a fair number of the squad together from that and, hopefully, in the right areas of the team to give us that sort of solidity and continuity.

"But we've got to make an impact, if we can, on this tournament. We don't want to play like we did in the World Cup. That was a means to an end. We want to challenge our game and challenge ourselves and move ourselves forward.

"We've not got a timeline on that, and we're not going to. I've never believed in doing things like that 'cos otherwise you'll get caught out very, very quickly. Hopefully we'll show signs of that in the tournament."

As a canny scrumhalf, Ashton travelled widely, representing the likes of Fylde, Orrell, AS Montferrand, Roma and Milan without ever playing for England; the closest he came was as an unused replacement against Scotland in 1975. He admits to being heavily influenced by Rugby League and is regarded as the best backs coach in his native land, a purveyor of a wide, adventurous game.

At the World Cup, with Argentina setting the tone from the opening game, the up-and-under became the fashion statement of the tournament. "And you guys invented it," he notes with typically dry irony. But this competition will offer more, he believes.

"I would hope so," he says. "I really would hope so and I suspect that that's the general feeling around the game at the moment, that whilst it was a very exciting tournament, incredibly well run, unusual in many ways, I think from a purist's rugby point of view, we might have expected a bit more."

Spoken like a purist.