The Rugby Football Union have confirmed plans to redefine Rob Andrew's current role and appoint a performance director.
Andrew, currently the RFU's director of elite rugby, appears to be the biggest casualty in a re-structuring of the organisation led by chief executive John Steele who has spent the last four months conducting a comprehensive review. Andrew's current wide-ranging position, which he has held since August 2006, has been scrapped and the whole elite department revamped.
Steele has decided to create a single rugby department divided into the areas of performance, operations and development with the emphasis on "delivering rugby at all levels". Each area will have its own director and those positions will be advertised from next week. Andrew has been invited to apply for the role of operations director.
Martin Johnson, the England team manager, will report into the new performance director. The position, which is not expected to be filled until the summer, has been linked to Sir Clive Woodward who is currently the elite performance director at the British Olympic Association. However, latest reports suggest that Woodward, who missed out on a return to the RFU four years ago when Andrew was appointed elite rugby director, will not apply for any new role with his focus firmly fixed on the 2012 Olympics in London.
Steele has also created two new roles - chief commercial officer and chief financial officer - as he bids to ensure the RFU is in the best position to build towards hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
"The next five years will be some of the most exciting in the RFU's history and I wanted to make sure we are in the right shape as an organisation to seize the opportunities in front of us," said Steele. "These new executive roles are a huge opportunity to ensure that we have the brightest and the best people leading the business moving forward.
"I have spent the last few months gathering insight and views on how the RFU could better serve the game. What became clear is that while we had a sound commercial platform, we did not have enough focus on the quality of the rugby experience across the game. So the new structure puts rugby right at the centre of the business and seeks to create more rugby expertise to benefit all levels of the game.
"Today's announcement is all about looking forward not back and ensuring that we have the best people in place to serve and lead rugby in England as we prepare for a home world cup in 2015. In view of this we are placing huge emphasis on developing the leadership and vision for the new rugby department. The three senior appointments in the rugby area are hugely important to the future of the game. We have invited Rob to apply for the Rugby Operations Director role which is a game wide role responsible for creating the rugby infrastructure required to make rugby work across England."
The RFU have also stressed that the development of this new structure will take six to nine months to put in place and in the interim those applying for roles will stay in their current position while the recruitment process happens and the transitions take place. This means that Andrew will continue with his current responsibilities until the process is complete.
"I am very excited about the future of the game in England and the re-structuring that will place rugby at the heart of everything the RFU does," said Andrew. "Change is never easy but there are some exciting opportunities and challenges ahead. I will be considering the role of Rugby Operations Director in the coming weeks and in the meantime will continue with my responsibilities as Elite Rugby Director."
Nick Eastwood, the current finance director, has been invited to apply for the new enhanced position. The reorganisation has led to a number of executive redundancies, including community rugby director Andrew Scoular, tournament and competitions director Terry Burwell and elite teams media director Richard Prescott.
RFU chairman Martyn Thomas said, "The changes we are making signal a changing of the guard and the new refreshed leadership team will give the RFU new impetus and a clearer strategic direction not just at the elite end of the game but across the whole game. We will emerge from the next few months a stronger, more effective union and John is to be applauded for taking the tough decisions needed to get there and for delivering the changes in a way that is cost neutral to the business."