Rob Andrew is struggling to survive at the centre of the RFU tornado, according to the Sunday Telegraph's Paul Hayward.
"Quite why Andrew wants to remain part of this mess (beyond the obvious explanations of power and salary) when broadsheet newspaper editorials are calling for him to go is a touch baffling, but at least part of the explanation is 2015 and the plans his department already have in place to deliver a side capable of winning the tournament on home turf.
"This chance could be snatched away as early as mid-week at an RFU board meeting, or when a new chief executive lowers his rear on to the HQ ejector seat.
"About the easiest reform for the new boss would be to clear out the man associated, however unfairly, with the rise and fall of Andy Robinson, Brian Ashton and now Johnson, who has taken a lot of shots on Andrew’s behalf and displays no urge to blame him, at least in public.
"A lethal element, still, could be the legal emails suggesting a possible hush-money payment to Annabel Newton, the New Zealand hotel worker, who appears to have falsified part of her evidence against James Haskell, Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley but was nevertheless subjected to thoroughly objectionable sexual comments by Ashton and Haskell, according to the transcript published in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph.
"If Andrew saw the emails suggesting that the solution to this obnoxious behaviour was to pay the victim to stay quiet — and raised no objection — then he has a case to answer way beyond the confines of a World Cup campaign gone wrong."
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