Rob Andrew insists there can be no quick-fix solution to addressing the problems of English rugby because the 'sticking plaster' has run out.
Head coach Andy Robinson paid the price for England's deterioration from world champions to a side in complete disarray in little over three years by losing his job.
The Rugby Football Union will soon begin the search for a successor but Andrew, the director of elite rugby, insists they will not rush into making an appointment.
Equally pressing is the need to tackle the shortcomings of the structure of English rugby which Robinson blamed for the world champions' slump in his departing statement.
Andrew agrees urgent action is required with a long-term solution necessary to stop England - who lie seventh in the world rankings - falling further behind their Test rivals.
He said: 'There is no doubt that there is a fundamental problem in the management of elite players.
'The skill is finding the solution long-term and it needs to be a long-term solution, not a case of putting some more sticking plaster on the problem.'
