YOU'D think Stuart Lancaster had enough on his plate. In the very week that England's caretaker coach is preparing an inexperienced team for a Six Nations showdown in the most inhospitable stadium of them all, against a team still in with a shout of the title, he faces an interview for the job on a full-time basis.
And then he learns that one of the players he is closest to has been arrested for a third drink-related offence in three months.
Danny Care was coached by Lancaster at the Leeds Academy. Both progressed naturally and swiftly into the England age-group set-up.
Lancaster had no hesitation in drafting Care into his first full England squad when he was named interim head coach at the end of last year.
He also had no hesitation in kicking him out of it when the player was arrested for a drink-drive offence on New Year's Eve.
Both men then made the right sort of noises – Lancaster stressing that the punishment was temporary and that his belief in Care was unshaken, Care stressing that his lapse was momentary and his determination to learn from it was as strong as his desire to get back into the England fold.
Lancaster can be excused for thinking that, whatever the mitigating circumstances – and it appears that the player's employers at Harlequins believe there to be some – he has been let down by Care.
Especially in the light of the events of the last few months, the player should not have been out and about in Leeds city centre at 3am.
That he should have even contemplated loading himself up with alcohol in public displays what can only be described as jaw-dropping stupidity.
All the excuses about him being the victim of a series of unfortunate accidents just won't wash.
As a national coach whose livelihood depends on the wit, intelligence and integrity of the players he puts out on the field, Lancaster may well conclude that he's well shot of a man who seems so deficient in these qualities.
Care's actions should also have convinced Lancaster – and others – of the self-evident truth that, in most cases, an international player's public utterances are unapologetically self-serving, and should be regarded as such.
To think that the interview panel will be impressed by claims that Lancaster has the full support of his players is to credit the likes of Sir Ian McGeechan with as little intelligence as Danny Care. Of course, the current England players are enthusiastic about Stuart Lancaster.
Given that he picks the team, they would hardly say otherwise.
Of course they proclaim that the new regime is better than the old, just as they proclaimed that Martin Johnson's set-up was better than Brian Ashton's, and Ashton's better than Andy Robinson. They could hardly do otherwise.
If McGeechan and company need reminding that a devoted changing-room is not a pre-requisite for success, they only have to look at England's opponents this weekend.
France reached the World Cup final last autumn even though the players and the coach, Marc Lievremont, were openly at odds with each other. They came within a whisker of beating New Zealand even though the two camps had, according to most reports, barely been on speaking terms for the best part of a month.
That Lancaster has made a favourable impression on the players is but one small mark in his favour. That he has also hardly put a foot wrong with the media is another important factor – though not as important as we like to think.
It's patently in the media's best interests to cosy up to whoever's in charge. That he's, by and large, been lucky in selection – Chris Robshaw as captain, the emergence of Owen Farrell, Lee Dickson, Ben Morgan and Geoff Parling – will also count in his favour.
What will count against him is that, for all the fine words, England have only managed two charge-down tries in three matches, and for all the talk of a cosy and inclusive atmosphere, the likes of Chris Ashton and Ben Youngs have failed to blossom.
In his toughest match in charge – against Wales a fortnight ago – Lancaster's use of replacements seemed to be dictated more by a pre-set timetable than by actual circumstances.
In only his third match in charge, Lancaster's international inexperience showed. Whatever else happens this season, that may ultimately count against him.
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