World Cup winner Ben Cohen has expressed concerns about the lack of experience in England's coaching team.
Stuart Lancaster was appointed as Martin Johnson's successor in the role as head coach after impressing while fulfilling the role on an interim basis during the Six Nations.
The 42-year-old had previously worked as Elite Rugby Director at the RFU and came into the job with no top-level international experience.
Lancaster was keen to add Wayne Smith to his staff but when he turned down the role for family reasons, Mike Catt was appointed on a short-term basis.
And though Cohen accepts Lancaster did a good job during the Six Nations, he has concerns about such an inexperienced coaching team.
He said: "Stuart Lancaster came in and did a good job. But do I think he should have got the main job? No.
"I think he should have been in and around the squad and have someone with real international experience over a number of years at the top - someone like a Nick Mallett or a Wayne Smith.
"There's not many people in this world who have the opportunity to 'try before you buy'. They tried him out, he had an opportunity and he was in no-lose situation - he had to drop all the players and bring in new ones. He had a new coaching staff who all had a buzz about them. It was a real honeymoon period.
"I'm not doing him a disservice - he came in and did a fantastic job and everyone speaks very highly of him.
"Mike Catt has a chance now and Graham Rowntree is in there as well, but there's no-one with any real experience."
Cohen played under New Zealander Smith while the pair were at Northampton and feels he would have been a "fantastic addition" to the staff.
He added: "You have to be a bit wary of the fact that Wayne Smith didn't want to take that opportunity on. I know Wayne very well and I know he wanted to be at home but I can see why Stuart went after him straight away.
"That is the bit that concerns me - how do you manage the transition? How do you make good international players great? How do you make great internationals stay international players?
"In the Six Nations you didn't see England play an amazing brand of rugby. I know it's about winning - I don't have a problem with that - but you need to look at their systems and what styles of rugby they're playing because there wasn't a lot of structures there.
"I know he only had a few games to do that and he got them winning and he can build on that, but they haven't really got that experience in the backroom staff to really make a difference to these players and bring them on."
Cohen is an ambassador for the Bingham Cup, the world championship of gay and inclusive rugby teams which is sponsored by Gaydar.net.
Named after gay rugby player Mark Bingham, who died on United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, it is now one of the largest 15-a-side rugby union tournaments in the world.
And Cohen played a key role in attracting the event to Manchester, where it will take place over the weekend of June 1-3.
Cohen said: "It's a fantastic tournament, people come from around the world to be involved in it. I'm passionate that anyone, regardless of their background, should be able to play rugby.
"Events such as this tournament show how rugby has become more inclusive and it also helps break down barriers and bring more people into the sport."
Since retiring from rugby, Cohen has concentrated on his 'StandUp Foundation', which aims to combat homophobia and bullying.
He added: "I never got bullied and I never saw bullying in rugby but I hear a lot about it and, having a large gay following, the stories that you hear and why they don't play sport are very sad.
"I know it does happen and we hear of horrid stories at a lower level. I'm not saying it doesn't happen at the top level, I can imagine there are some isolated incidents, but at grassroots level people need educating about homophobia, which is where racism was 20 years ago so there's a lot of education needed."
Cohen's foundation is working with the Home Office and has Premier League and lower league football teams, plus tennis stars backing his campaign, with the Aviva Premiership teams also set to sign up.
