Coach holds on to his job

England's rugby coach keeps his job in spite of England's seventh defeat in a row.

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And the England Head Rugby Coach, Andy Robinson has kept his job, for the time being at least. He met with his bosses at the RFU to discuss Saturday's defeat to Argentina, England's seventh in a row.

Robinson will remain in charge for the two Tests against South Africa but there'll be another review of his performance after that.

It had been the roughest of weekends both on the pitch and in the papers but by arriving to face the music dressed in his England training kit, Andy Robinson underlined his intention to (1) stay on in the job. What his superiors at the RFU wanted to (2) pick over were the repurcussions of the dismal capitulation to Argentina on Saturday, a result which saw England match their worst ever running defeats.

While many (3) called openly for his head, the RFU decided Robinson would remain at his post for the next two autumn internationals, both against South Africa.

Rather than have a knee-jerk reaction after one ... admittedly very poor performance, you know, we want to see where we are at the end of the autumn.

So Robinson (4) holds on to the job, and more than likely, by the skin of his teeth. And although he declined to comment when leaving for the team hotel a friend and predecessor did manage to grab a word with him.

He's focused on the next couple of weeks, from what I can ascertain, and I think he's the right man to do it. He was ... you know, they had a chance here at the union six months ago in the review to (5) kick him out then. If they wanted to, they'd had decided to keep him so they've to (6) see the whole thing through.

However, Robinson's expression at the final whistle on Saturday spoke volumes and you wonder whether the embarrassment of another defeat this coming weekend would prove too much for him personally.

Phrasal verbs

(1) stay on: continue doing his job

(2) pick over: question him

(3) called for: asked for his resignation

(4) holds on: keeps his job

(5) kick him out: sack him

(6) see through: continue until the job is finished