England to hold talks with Saracens as they bid to make Andy Farrell part of the coaching team on a full-time basis Stuart Lancaster, appointed new permanent head coach of England last Thursday, is keen to retain the services of Farrell, who was a key member of the interim coaching team during the Six Nations, along with RFU employee Graham Rowntree. Farrell himself is thought to be torn. The 36 year-old has been part of Saracens set-up since 2005 when he joined the club as a player from Wigan Warriors and loves the day-to-day involvement of club coaching. The attraction of coaching England to the 2015 home World Cup is likely to prove decisive, however, and a deal could be reached later today. Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths, who held initial talks with RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie and professional rugby director Rob Andrew on Friday, said the club were keen for a swift resolution to avoid disrupting preparations for their Heineken Cup quarter-final against Clermont Auvergne at Vicarage Road on Sunday. "It is not very complicated to work out what the discussions are about but the default position is that he is head coach at Saracens if the discussions are not successful," Griffiths said. If talks break down over Farrell, it is likely that Lancaster will look to former All Black assistant coach Wayne Smith to fill the backs coach role. Smith, who is the current Waikato Chiefs head coach, will not become available until September. Once the situation is resolved, Lancaster will turn his attention to strengthening his coaching team for the three-Test tour of South Africa in June, with former England coach Brian Ashton among the names being considered for an interim role. Lancaster intends taking a squad of 40 players and making it a "Lions model" tour. He is likely to require an experienced coach to head up the midweek side, which is expected to face two matches against high-quality South African opposition. Ashton, who guided England to the 2007 World Cup final, was a big supporter of Lancaster's appointment. The reality is we have a five-game tour coming up where we have midweek games as well. In terms of coaching resource, we're going to need to more," said Lancaster. Meanwhile, Rowntree has revealed in testimony that Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley "might well soon" be made England captain and this helped reduce the 26 year-old's ban for biting the finger of Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris on March 17 to from a probable 12 weeks to only eight. The disciplinary panel ruled Hartley's reaction to finding Ferris" finger in or near his mouth was "not justifiable" and banned him until May 14.