It is fair to say that the start of Eddie Jones’s reign as England coach has not been completely smooth sailing. Visa troubles in Japan – who understandably are not moving mountains to speed up the process – meant he missed his first day of work on Tuesday, while Bristol are allegedly digging their heels in over any approach from the RFU towards Steve Borthwick.
In the greater context of his four year contract, one missed day at the office is not going to make a great deal of difference. Missing out on Steve Borthwick, however, would be a massive disappointment and a real blow to England.
Borthwick came in for an awful lot of stick as a player, his tenure as England captaincy coming at a time when England were at their lowest ebb. He was criticised for a perceived lack of effectiveness on the pitch – but that was not where his true value was to be found. He was the thinking man’s captain, a role that can be difficult to stomach for fans because they can’t actually see the values that he brings – especially when compared with Martin Johnson’s run-through-a-brick-wall-for-the-team brand of captaincy, or Richie McCaw’s pure warrior spirit.
Borthwick was pigeon-holed as a lineout guru who offered little else but this was not fair. Alex Goode, a teammate at Saracens, recently said: “Steve is certainly the best captain I’ve come across and been led by. Pretty much anyone who’s worked with him in a club environment would agree. He’s a brilliant leader and student of the game, his attention to detail is phenomenal.”
Mark McCall’s praise was even grander, claiming that even in the twilight of his career Borthwick was already showing signs of what a good coach he could be – by ignoring McCall himself, essentially.
“He’s the first captain that I’ve dealt with who didn’t need a message from the coach, because he completely understood the game. Steve understood its flow, its momentum, what needed to be done, what needed to be said. I think he’ll be a really top coach. A great coach.”
So by all accounts, Borthwick is one of the smartest rugby brains around. A student of the game, a thinker, a man who understands how the sport flows: this is exactly the kind of coach that England need, and lacked so badly under the previous regime.
Lancaster, Farrell, Rowntree – all are honest men, but not ones to which you would attach the ‘student of the game’ tag. And what we all saw in the World Cup was the coaches’ qualities reflected in the players – plenty of endeavour and passion, but a complete lack of intelligence on the pitch. Jones and Borthwick together can change this instantly.
There will be hurdles – indeed, Jones’s courting of Borthwick will be his first introduction into the painful club vs country arena. And although Bristol are in the Championship, they have the man with the deepest pockets of all – even the RFU – in billionaire Steve Landsdown. It’s far from certain that even the RFU’s best offer will be enough to prise Borthwick away – more likely, the man himself would have to ask to leave.
The former Saracens lock has the benefit of having spent a long time in the English game, and understands its intricacies in a way that Jones will not. In terms of evolution, as well, he represents a home grown coach who would be ideal to take over in 2019 when Jones departs. Realistically the only other coaches that fit that bill are Rob Baxter and Dean Ryan, but both are in the middle of serious projects with Exeter and Worcester respectively.
And of course, Jones and Borthwick dovetailed so effectively when in charge of Japan, leading them to the most historic of World Cup campaigns, the details of which need not be repeated for the umpteenth time here.
The negotiations will be tough, Bristol and Landsdown will dig in their heels, but having made Jones their top dog, no appointment now makes more sense than Borthwick. Having thrown the kitchen sink at the Stormers to secure the Australian’s signature, it’s time to find another one to chuck Bristol’s way to sign the correct lieutenant.
Manu Tuilagi’s mooted move to Worcester makes absolutely no sense in my eyes. From Worcester’s point of view, he would undoubtedly show that they mean business – but why would you throw such eye-watering amounts of money at a player with such a wretched recent injury history? You can almost count on two hands the number of appearances he has made in the past two seasons.
And it will be intriguing to see how it plays out – for Manu, does he stick by the club that did exactly that with him through his various injury and disciplinary issues? Or does he chase the money – with Leicester having said they will not be strong-armed into matching these bids – in what is undoubtedly a short career, that could potentially be made even shorter by injury?
If he does leave the Tigers, more than anything I will be livid not to have seen a centre partnership of Matt Toomua and a fully fit Manu lining up together – how good would that be?
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
I like the idea of Borthwick joining Jones to let their coaching double act continue on the international stage. Also the idea of him taking over after the 2019 World Cup.
As for Tuilagi, maybe a move is exactly what he needs! When you think about how long players like Croft have been out for, and the lengthy injury lists they’ve had in the last couple of years, can anyone blame him for thinking he needs to move to another club?
You’d look at someone like Wilkinson at Newcastle in 2007. He had rotten luck with injuries for 4 years and then left the club, and then he had a great run with Toulon, playing some great rugby in the twilight of his career.
Toulon is hopefully out for Manu, who I hope will stay in the England picture, but moving to another English club may be an enormous benefit to himself, mentally as much as anything. He probably shuts his eyes and all he can see is the treatment room at Welford Road, a fresh start may be the (re)making of him.
Certainly think Borthwhick makes a lot of sense. I think it will all happen quite quickly, certainly within the next week or two.
For Manu – I’ve seen Wasps rumours which I am really hoping are true. Seeing him play with Toomua would be great, but seeing him at 12 with Daly, Wade, Halai and Simpson around is a prospect that excites far more (and yes I am a completely biased Wasps fan).
That would be a rather dangerous back line…
A dangerous back line including four players who would definitely be in my first choice England XXIII.
Strange article
Title and first 12 paragraphs lead you to believe it is an article all about Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick but then the last 3 paragraphs are like but I also have an opinion on Tuilagi and i can’t be bothered to cover it in a separate article.
Hi Leon, it’s a weekly opinion column that will be dominated by one topic, with one or two other noteworthy topics covered in less detail at the bottom. Not the first of its kind!
Also there is a line that is supposed to denote the end of one article and the start of another.
Yeah I saw the line break but the heading matched the first article and without a sub heading the second article just seemed out of place.
Pedant Level 1,000 Unlocked.
;)
I do wonder whether we are repeating our mistakes.
Rowntree, Farrell and Catt were brought into the international fold all with little exposure at club level, none of them were head coaches or DoRs. People with long memories may remember how much Rowntree was lauded in 2007 when he was brought in as a scrum coach. Likewise Farrell in 2011, certainly from defence POV. This corresponds with the current love in for Borthwick.
If we want to build a coaching team, with an eye on a smooth succession in 2019, then we should follow the format that NZ did when they had Henry, Hansen and Smith. All had been Head coaches or DoRs, which ensured a smooth handover to Hansen in 2011. If that is the plan the likes of Borthwick, King, Wilkinson etc should be left to develop their careers at club level first.
That’s why the RFU should move heaven and earth to recruit experienced coaches like Mallinder, Baxter, Ryan, Richards and Edwards. Supplement them with exciting up and coming coaches (regardless of nationality IMO) for specialty coaching roles (scrum, breakdown etc).
However if the few English DoRs/ Heads of rugby continue to turn down England approaches, or refuse to serve under another coach, then we cannot blame the RFU for “letting down” English coaches as has been claimed in the last few weeks. Why are they so “big” to perform a role that Hansen and Smith (far more successful IMO) were happy to do?
I don’t think Borthwick fits into the same category. He has proven himself as an international coach. Look what he achieved with the Japanese team working with Jones.
I do wonder if Jones will be looking to other coaches he worked closely with while he was over here. He had a very good relationship with Alex Sanderson, and can’t help thinking that he may be approached.
“He has proven himself as an international coach.”
As I mentioned above people thought the same about Farrell and Rowntree early in their international coaching careers. Basing your judgment off of a handful of matches is a big risk. He is far from “proven “.
Farrell had no international coaching experience when he took the job, and Rowntree still is a very good coach, whom I think has been let down by selection of players as much as anything. That may be partly his fault, I don’t know, but I think he’s had his time and a fresh approach from someone with new ideas is needed.
Both Farrell and Rowntree had the best resources in rugby to work with, and along with Lancaster, and Johnson & Co. before them have fallen short. My point about Borthwick was that he achieved some great things with limited resources within the Japanese camp, and that makes me wonder what he could achieve if he was working with the resources we have here.
My point Dazza is that Borthwick is at a similar stage to Farrell post Saxons and England in 2012 and Rowntree in 2007/8. They all had promising starts but are/ were yet to proven in their fields. We’re all getting excited about Borthwick based on 5 matches in a world cup and I just wonder whether Rowntree’s coaching suffered by not having day to day contact with players so early in his career. I wouldn’t want to ruin another promising coach.
I don’t buy the excuse over selection. Rowntree would have had a big say in that as would Farrell. They imposed their own limitations.
Pedant Level 1,000 Unlocked.
;)
^^ Meant to be a reply to Leon further up the page.
Now your just baiting me
Level 2000 seems achievable
*you’re ;)
Touché
Looks like you beat me to level 2000 :-(
3000 is stil up for grabs?
Still has 2 l’s
*nods head sagely and concedes that level 3000 has indeed been earned*
Jeez we desperately need something rugby related to talk about
Jamie can you cook up some articles about this weekends games?
Predictions coming soon.
Thanks Jamie it was all starting to get a bit desperate here
Jamie, can we have a piece about predicting a GB 7’s team for the Rio Olympics? That would be quite interesting. A 7’s Lions team essentially!?
Hard to say about Borthwick yet as, as far as I can tell anyway, he’s been off the radar.
Agree he was given a rough deal when dumped by Johnno, because, again as far I can tell, Borthwick wasn’t an especially lesser England lock than a number of others at the time?
Anyway, is his time with Japan truly informative (as with Jones)? I mean, although Japan caused THAT upset, in the end they DIDN’T qualify out of their group & they also, for instance, lost to the Jocks.
I hope he does well if picked by Jones for England as he seemed a decent fella & forward to me. Let his actions do his talking type. Moreover, if he has the nous to develop the England forwards into a bit more than bosh merchants & get them to straighten their running lines & ‘distribute’ (that word again!), then good for him.
But we’ll have to see.