Sunday 5 October 2014 11:54, UK
The RFU will not stand in Stuart Lancaster's way if the England coach is asked to coach the British & Lions in 2017.
Lancaster has been awarded a six-year contract to coach England, but the RFU has promised to give him permission to lead the Lions to New Zealand.
Lancaster’s back-room team of Graham Rowntree, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt - who also signed new six-year deals this week – will also be allowed to go.
"To be honest I'm not even sure if there's a specific clause in the contracts, but that's irrelevant, because our view of life is that we would be supportive," said RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie.
"So if people came knocking on the door, we would regard it as an honour, both for the organisation and for the individual.
"And we would be very happy to deal with that, should it come. Undoubtedly when people are asked to be involved everybody should regard it as an honour to be asked.
"The Lions would need to make a request and then we would deal with it, but, in general terms, we would be supportive."
Ritchie and the RFU were keen to end any uncertainty about Lancaster’s position following next year’s World Cup.
If people came knocking on the door, we would regard it as an honour, both for the organisation and for the individual.
The governing body came under fire for failing to plan for life after the 2003 World Cup. England famously won that tournament, but they were barren years following the departure of coach Sir Clive Woodward.
Ritchie can now turn attention to the looming heads of agreement contract renewal, the pact between RFU and Premiership clubs that deals with player release and welfare.
The new campaign has seen a raft of injuries to big-name England stars, with Leicester once again bearing the brunt.
England lock Geoff Parling is sidelined until December with concussion, with Tigers club captain Ed Slater out for the season with knee trouble.
Northampton prop Alex Corbisiero will now also miss England's autumn Tests with shoulder trouble, as the injury list lengthens.
There is no evidence yet that the injury rate is rising, but Ritchie admitted every rugby authority has player safety at the top of their agenda.
Ritchie admitted with the international fixture schedule all-but nailed down until 2019, it will be a battle to reduce demands on England's top stars.
"A lot of these things have been dealt with through the clubs and responsibly too," he said.
"The welfare of the player has to be the most important thing. It's early doors in the season as well.
"We all know what the fixture schedule is, it's something we all have to deal with, and the clubs are dealing with it in an extremely responsible way with regard to injuries.
"I think we handled between us the pressures around Rugby World Cup compensation extremely professionally.
"And I've every optimism we'll deal with the heads (of agreement) in the same way.
"Undoubtedly we'll be looking at how many matches there are and how it works. It's an important factor, for one thing a look at the international calendar over the next few years, it's pretty much written until 2019.
"I don't see that particularly changing, and we'll look at that in the discussion over the heads as well.
"Of course you need to look at rest periods, rotation of squads, it is a very demanding game.
"All I can say is I think between ourselves and the clubs, we have a close association on that, and we will do all we can to address it."
