Newcastle's director of rugby Rob Andrew last night ruled himself out of the running to take over from Sir Clive Woodward as the England head coach.

The former England outside-half Andrew, the Premiership's longest-serving coach having taken charge of the Falcons nine years ago, is widely regarded as the favourite to succeed Woodward but maintains the time is not right for him.

"I have a contract with Newcastle until 2007 and intend to see it out," said Andrew, who won 71 Eng land caps. "Who knows what will happen after that? There has been a lot of speculation today but it is a non-starter as far as I am concerned."

Newcastle's fly-half Jonny Wilkinson is one of the favourites to succeed Lawrence Dallaglio as England captain, an appointment Andrew is keen on. "Jonny is the man to lead the next generation of England players into the next World Cup," he said. "There are three years to the next World Cup, not a lot of time to get the necessary experience into a new team."

Andrew had a public falling out with Woodward two years ago after observations he had made about England in a newspaper column. He also annoyed the blazers at Twickenham three years ago when he resigned from a working party looking at the game's structure .

The Gloucester director of rugby Nigel Melville, also being touted as a contender, is thought not to be acceptable to everyone at headquarters despite his coaching and playing pedigree.

Woodward has long advocated his assistant Andy Robinson for the job. Most of the other tipped candidates are from overseas, including John Mitchell. He led New Zealand in the last World Cup having been part of England's management team in the 1999 tournament.