The most worrying sign of this follows the bombshell decision this week by Felix Jones, a double World Cup-winning assistant coach with South Africa, to leave the England set-up after only seven months.
The bid by the Irishman, whose credentials as an talented attack/defence strategist have taken him to the top of the coaching ladder, to extricate himself from his RFU contract so soon is a body blow to Borthwick’s attempts to turn England back into a leading international force.
The blow was even more damaging because it came so soon after strength & conditioning specialist Aled Walters walked through the Twickenham exit straight into a job with Ireland. This suggests that unless he had a break clause with England, the IRFU bought him out of his RFU contract.
Walters’ timing could not have been worse from a Red Rose perspective. The influential performance guru of the 2019 South African World Cup winning side – who is a close to Jones since their days at Munster – left his England job just two days after it was announced that Tom Tombleson, his fellow strength & conditioning colleague, had been released following a pre-season Borthwick reshuffle.
The departure of the now unemployed Tombleson, who had been a popular member of the England support staff for a decade, had a domino effect. With Walters and Jones following-on, the three-man coaching exodus in under three weeks in August rocked Twickenham to the core.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 01, 2024 من The Rugby Paper.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة September 01, 2024 من The Rugby Paper.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
England can find a little bit of cheer
SO HERE we are on the final day of England’s autumn international series with all of us hoping and expecting Steve Borthwick’s team to win today after three weeks of bitter disappointment.
Stop messing with Marcus - Campese
DAVID Campese believes England are going backwards under Steve Borthwick, who is ‘messing around’ with talisman Marcus Smith.
Being a Lion was the highlight of my career
I PLAYED 19 games and scored 219 points for the Lions, on the tours to South Africa in 1968 and New Zealand in 1971, but I never played in a Test and that was fair enough.
Cook's crew not fazed as they eye tilt at top half
THERE appear to be few signs of second season syndrome at Westcombe Park as captain Nick Cook reveals the group aren’t even contemplating the threat of relegation and are instead targeting a top-half finish.
Forwards pack a punch for the Reds
OLD Redcliffians produced a proud defensive effort to take a bonus-point win.
Tom 'Ailes' the achievements of inspirational skipper Riley
SEDGLEY Park No. 8 Tom Ailes says his team relish the competitive nature of National One and is confident the Tigers can rectify their rocky start to the season in weeks to come.
Strachan confident Ampthill will be firing again soon
FRASER Strachan is determined to put Ampthill’s leaky defensive showings behind them and gain some much needed confidence in the run up to Christmas.
It's a whole new ball game for Rigg
WILL Rigg’s ambition was to become a professional cricketer but it is the oval ball rather than The Oval that is his driver now.
Scarratt leads the way for Lightning
LOUGHBOROUGH won a wet and windy East Midlands Derby after having the bonus point in the bag by half-time.
Becconsall: We need to release pressure
WILL Becconsall says Exeter are not spooked by the threat of relegation as they look to turn around their Premiership campaign after starting with six straight defeats.