Six Nations 2012: England coach Stuart Lancaster needs to beat Irish at Twickenham to secure future Well, there's no point getting too emotional or comfortable because we all know that Stuart is in a job he wasn't supposed to ever get. A few months ago he was a decent coach who was not earmarked for the international spotlight. Career-RFU-man looked like the route, a bit of experience and then see if a Premiership job came up. Or at least that was until the World Cup, the collapse of English rugby and the subsequent bout of enforced soul-searching and hand-wringing. A quick fix was needed; a safe set of hands. Stuart had Churchill Cup experience, had worked with a lot of young lads coming through and, importantly, was an RFU man so there was a limited risk of him chucking hand grenades about in the press. The idea was for him to steer the ship just long enough for a better, more high-profile name to be drafted in to take the wheel. The only problem now is that the nice guy has played a blinder and is in serious contention for the job on a full-time basis. Current players, past players, experts, and supporters all seem to be calling for him to be signed up and locked in. I did a quick straw poll of 30 people last weekend and they all said he should keep the job. And they would be right because in many ways he has done a lot of things very well. After the horror of the World Cup his smile has gone a long way to lifting the fog that had settled over England. The management team look like they are enjoying themselves and they are being straightforward and honest about what they are doing. In terms of selection, which is the hardest part of the job, he is managing to mix experienced pros with inexperienced players who you feel are worth a punt. This willingness to experiment could be down to the fact that not having the job full-time means he doesn't worry about the future. But I don't buy in to that. I rang him with some questions after his first selection of an England squad in January. I felt he had ditched some players too early and missed a couple. I couldn't get him off the phone. I didn't agree with all of it but admired the detail, the composure, the belief behind his decisions. You feel he would be the same if he were in the job for five months or five years. It's the same with his coaching staff; small, minimum of fuss, respected and yet a brave move again. Not with Rowntree, everyone likes him and everyone knows he does a good job, but Farrell was a big punt. He'd only just stopped playing, hadn't been steeped in union and was down to do both attack and defence. That it came off, with England's defence being the match-winning change of the tournament, is either down to genius or some of the best fortune I have seen in years. It's true that you have to make your own luck, and this is another area where Stuart has not been afraid to experiment. He has borrowed, adapted and changed. The England warm up, where they trot to the centre spot, chat and stretch, jog to corner, chat and stretch, is Saracens all over. Getting Gary Neville and Jamie Peacock in to speak to the team ahead of the campaign was a great idea in a fist-pumping, old-school kind of way. Everyone loved him taking the England squad to miserable Yorkshire instead of sunny Portugal. It mattered because the fans wanted these lads to suffer, to rediscover some humility. The way he handled Danny Care and Delon Armitage won him admirers because many people had become tired of the indiscipline and irritating sideshows of drunk and badly behaved players. We got clarity of parameters, and could admire the firm, no-nonsense stance he took. But it wasn't all about chucking away, and the clever old medical and fitness team, abused not long ago, are still ticking along and delivering the results needed. It has been an impressive balancing act. And yet, in much the same way that I look up at a man on a tightrope, I can't help worrying that Stuart might topple from his precarious position at any moment, brought down by some quirk of fate or calamitous result. My fear is that for all the good things that have happened there have been just as many that have been terrible. England should have lost to Scotland, and they were almost down and out to Italy. Had they lost in Rome then it would have been game over. But just as the RFU are starting to sweat over who they bring in, a charge-down saves the day. In Paris, a French team leaked two tries in four minutes from an error and a bad kick-chase, and the game became all about hanging on. And at Twickenham, under pressure, the same old problem of indiscipline reared its head against Wales and the game was lost. And while the results have mostly gone England's way this Six Nations their position in the table is all about razor-thin advantages. Should they lose to Ireland on Saturday and France manage to win, then England would finish fourth. Where to then? Not an easy one to answer but in reality it comes down to winning over the Twickenham crowd, and I include myself in this group. Not everyone travels to Paris or Rome but everyone who can turns up at Twickenham: diehard fans; one-day chancers; debenture men; corporate clients. Everyone's opinion will matter. If the players want Stuart to stay, if he has been good enough to keep the job, then we all need to see it on the pitch. Beating Ireland will be the endorsement he needs. If England win and Chris Robshaw is debriefing the team on the campaign in their huddle in the middle of the pitch, they should hand-deliver Lancaster his contract there and then. But lose on Saturday, finishing with two home losses out of two, and then there will be a lot of uncertainty. Three months ago I would not have backed Lancaster for the job. I was thinking more along the lines of Nick Mallett, who is hard-nosed, experienced, has a good reputation, was a very clever player and well travelled. I liked Jim Mallinder as I had played with him, and felt he could the job. My left field choice was Brendan Venter because whatever you think of him just try picking a side to beat one of his teams. Very few can. Stuart was the nice bloke up against the big boys. On Saturday he is in a very different position; he is a front-runner - a real contender, and his results need to match that. I wish him well.