Byron McGuigan's message to Steve Borthwick after England defence trial

Sale Sharks defence coach Byron McGuigan insists that Lee Blackett’s departure from Bath to take up his new attack role with England will not impact on the reigning Premiership champions’ try-scoring power.

Blackett’s final game as Bath’s attack guru came in the opening round of this campaign and saw Harlequins defeated 42-24 at the Twickenham Stoop despite the West Country side missing key players such as Finn Russell, Santiago Carreras, Will Stuart and Thomas du Toit.

It now falls to McGuigan and his Sale defence to try and shackle Bath at the Recreation Ground and the former Scotland wing knows what a Blackett inspired attack can deliver having sat alongside the ex-Wasps boss during England’s unbeaten summer Tests against Argentina (35-12, 22-17) and the USA (40-5), achieved without their British and Irish Lions stars.

McGuigan and Blackett were drafted into head coach Steve Borthwick’s management team following Richard Wigglesworth’s call-up to the Lions coaching set-up in Australia. Blackett made such a positive impact that Wigglesworth has moved to the England defence coach role to allow the Bath man to take over the attack he masterminded so well in the Americas.

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Bath

28 - 16

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McGuigan was England’s defence coach against the Pumas and Eagles and told RugbyPass: “Lee is a really passionate coach who brings a real energy and buzz around the coaching environment. When he speaks you can see the passion and he is also very competitive in training sessions. He is a really likeable guy and within the first couple of days we created a connection and friendship.

“I was doing the defence and he was attack and we competed every day and that was great. Lee is so clear in the way he wants his teams to attack and so good at getting that message across. That is not something that Bath will forget quickly and he has created good habits and a really dangerous attacking team that will be influenced by Lee for some time to come. Bath are still arguably the biggest challenge in the Premiership.

“Bath will be very powerful and if we are not disciplined and match them physically they have the players to put points on the board.”

McGuigan also won plaudits for his defence work and while the Sharks bid for trophy success this season is his main focus, the 36-year-old is eager for more Test match experience as a coach.

McGuigan, who won 10 Scotland caps, said: “All coaches aspire to be at the highest level and that is England and I have had a taste of it. I loved my time and so if an opportunity opened up then it’s certainly something I would want to do.

“The coaching group was very clear, detailed and purposeful and for me I was in a real high-performance environment and I absolutely loved it. Going into England, the biggest challenge is that you have a group of players from different clubs and you have to get them aligned in just two weeks before you play a Test match.

“I was really surprised how quickly the players processed information and how brave they were to buy into a plan that may be different to what they are doing with their clubs. One area I was worried about was how quickly can I get this information to transfer but the players did an incredible job.”

The opening round of Gallagher PREM matches produced an average of 60 points per game which is up from the 55 that was last season’s average over the entire season. McGuigan believes that the harder pitches and better conditions at the start and end of a season help promote running rugby with the middle section dominated by poorer weather and heavier pitches.

He added: “The way the laws are going at the moment I feel favours a game that is more exciting and enjoyable to watch so attacks are on top. Defensively you have to make sure you are looking at the future and where the game is going and start coaching and picking up the right trends so you have a system in place that can withstand the way teams are attacking at the moment.

“Sometimes teams get stuck in their ways and if you don’t move forward you will get found out. A big factor is the drier ball and the speed of ball is higher at the start and that also happens at the back end of the season when scores start getting bigger.

“One of the most dangerous kinds of ball to attack from is transition turnover ball and attack and defence goes hand in hand. Our defence has to be a weapon that creates try scoring opportunities for us. We will use our defence to get the ball back and put us in positions to score tries.

“We structure the week so that attack and defence are equally important and if we want to be a great team that wins trophies then our defence has to be really good.”

Sale’s turnover power is headed by Tom and Ben Curry along with prop Bevan Rodd but McGuigan wants to “upskill” the team’s backs to add them to the ball stealing threat to the opposition. “Tom and Ben are obsessed with the game and love to be challenged,” explained McGuigan.

“They think deeply about the game and I have known both of them since they were 18 years old, and I really enjoy the trust we have built over the years and I can have open and honest conversations with them and then they take the lead to drive things. They are such incredible players and all our internationals are setting the standards for the squad.

“Tom Roebuck has grown so much in the last 18 months and I just wonder how far he can take it and we have so many of these great young players.

“Ultimately, defence is there to keep you in the fight and in the game and that will win you big games. We went on a good run of games at the end of last season and our defence was crucial in getting us there. That was massive credit to the players who turned up every day, bought into a plan and then delivered brilliant commitment on match days.”