Saracens to fight for Andy Farrell's services

Lancaster is keen to keep together the coaching team, which included Farrell and forwards coach Graham Rowntree, which served him so well during his interim reign in the recently concluded Six Nations. The appointment of Rowntree, who is already on the RFU payroll, is not expected to pose any problems, but prising former rugby league star Farrell away from Saracens may be a trickier proposition, with their chief executive Edward Griffiths insistent that they do not want to lose him. "The RFU asked if they could loan Andy Farrell for the Six Nations, which we did in the national interest," Griffiths said. "They made it very clear that it was just for the Six Nations. He is contracted to us for another two years and he is a massive part of what we're planning here as a club, and that's really the situation. "We will doubtless talk to the RFU shortly and hear what they have got to say, but from a Saracens perspective Andy is a big part of our club and a big part of our future." Lancaster told Radio Five Live this morning that his thoughts and those of the RFU would now turn to finalising the coaching team, but the former Saxons coach is clearly keen for continuity as he looks towards a tour of South Africa this summer and the 2015 World Cup in England. "There has been an order of events and it has all happened for me very quickly in the sense that the final interview was last week and I was told (of his appointment) in the middle of this week," Lancaster said. "For the RFU the priority was to get everything out of the way for me and then look at what I had put forward as my preferred coaching team. "But clearly there is a right way to do these things and the right thing to do is to have the conversations privately and that is what is going to happen over the course of the next few weeks and we will see how we go. "From my point of view we had a great Six Nations and I would like to keep moving in that direction."