Joe Schmidt is a comfortably long price to be next England coach but an Irishman is right in the mix

They obviously are big fans of the Late, Late Show in the rarefied halls of the English Rugby HQ at Twickenham.

Because Joe Schmidt's interview with Ryan Tubridy last month appears to have done the trick in warding off interest in replacing Stuart Lancaster with Ireland's favourite adopted Kiwi. Or at least that's how it seems to the bookmakers. Schmidt is 33/1 to replace Lancaster with former South Africa coach Jake White the early favourite. But former Ireland full-back Conor O'Shea, currently Director of Rugby at Harlequins, is right in the mix at 8/1. Other names prices high in the market include Japan coach Eddie Jones, Wayne Smith, Rob Baxter, Jim Mallinder and Mike Ford. Lancaster paid the price for a disastrous Rugby World Cup when he departed by "mutual consent" on Wednesday lunchtime.