Paul Rowley reiterates desire to land England head coach role

Paul Rowley has reiterated his desire to become England’s next head coach, with the vacancy once again appearing wide open after Willie Peters’ withdrew from the running.

Hull KR boss Peters will leave Super League at the end of the season to take up a role with new NRL club PNG Chiefs. With that, he has formally pulled out of the running for the England position that he was strong favourite to land.

That has opened the door for other candidates, with Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur, former Rhinos boss Brian McDermott, and Rowley, expected to be among the lead coaches in the race to land the role.

Rowley has made no secret of his enthusiasm for the role ahead of the World Cup, with the Saints boss now hopeful of landing the position.

“As a player, representing your country is the biggest accolade you can get,” Rowley said. “As a coach I have a burning desire to coach England. Willie Peters has the credentials but I think that might have drifted now. He would have been a strong favourite and rightly so, he’s been phenomenal in his time here.

“It’s something I would embrace and I’d love a piece of that. That would absolutely be on my goals to achieve and a burning desire to do so because singing the anthem and leading out your country as a player or coach is an unbelievable feeling and would get the heart pumping.”

The Rugby Football League is expected to complete the process of appointing the next head coach by the end of April. Nigel Wood’s appointment as chair has allowed the search to progress and with Peters now formally out of the equation, other candidates will be strongly assessed before a final decision is made in the coming weeks.