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Dan Cole hints at Steve Borthwick's next move after Felix Jones exit

By Josh Raisey
England Head Coach Steve Borthwick during the International Test Match between New Zealand All Blacks and England at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 06, 2024 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

England tighthead prop Dan Cole believes his head coach Steve Borthwick has a dilemma on his hands in deciding where to take the team’s defence following the shock exit of Felix Jones. 

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While there is no clarity as to how long Jones will remain in his role of defence coach after handing in his resignation, something Cole himself is unsure about, the Leicester Tigers prop said Borthwick faces two choices once the former South Africa assistant coach eventually departs.

Speaking on his For the Love of Rugby podcast alongside Ben Youngs, England’s most capped active player said that Borthwick must choose between finding a coach that can implement the same defensive structure as Jones or bringing in a new coach that will bring their own style.

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Youngs echoed what Cole said, while highlighting how crucial the personality of a defence coach is, as it requires a buy-in from the players to adopt a certain system.

Though he is not aware of any candidates, Cole is backing his head coach to select someone that can “finish the job off” that Jones has started after a promising eight months in the role. He did specify that he knows very little about what Borthwick’s or the RFU’s plans are though.

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“You see his defensive system, it’s been a real thing for England to hang their hat on- big line speed, big collisions, pressure at breakdowns, that’s the system he’s brought in,” the 115-cap international said of Jones.

“He’s a great coach, great guy, very intense, knows his stuff. It will be interesting to see how long he remains in the job for if he remains in the job, but I don’t know anything about that. What system do England next employ?

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“The thing about defence is you have to commit to it. You have to build your game plan around it and pick players that know how to do it. It becomes your style of team and I think Steve has allowed that to happen. He probably doesn’t get the credit that he’s allowed Felix to run it.

“It will be interesting to see if A, England stick with this system and try and find a coach to coach the system or whether you get in a new defence coach who coaches a new system. I would say, the way the game is going, England will want to keep that abrasive, attacking defensive system, but then you have to find a coach to coach the system.

“Some coaches, I guess, could coach the system and know it but aren’t coaching it because they aren’t allowed to. So there are so many combinations and thoughts that go into it, so it will be really interesting to see what happens next, but I’m sure if there’s one man with a plan it’s Steve and he knows what he wants and he’ll go out and get it and make sure the RFU give him the full backing to do what he needs to do to make the team better.

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“Knowing the little that I know, if it wasn’t Felix Jones doing that job, it would be someone else to try and be an aggressive defence, in your face, because that’s what Steve, the head coach of England, has decided wins games, that’s how he wants to run it. Rather than us going back to a more passive defence, you’ve gone down that road, so let’s take it to the full and finish the job off, rather than going ‘we’ve done it for a year, it’s been really good, but we’ll go back to something else because it’s the safer option’.

“I think he’ll find someone that can coach the system, but off the top of my head I don’t know anyone outside the South African set-up that does the system, but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t people out there that could coach it.”

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Comments

5 Comments
N
NH 17 days ago

There's an obvious answer... Shaun Edwards!

B
Bull Shark 17 days ago

There’s another option. Get a new head coach and start over completely. While you have time.


😁

T
Terry24 18 days ago

England should use Jones' notice period for him to train up his replacement. That's what the notice period is for in my opinion. Not needed for a traditional defence coach as anyone could slot in, so I think England have considered this eventuality in advance.

For English rugby IQ it would be extremely useful if an English coach could be the replacement.

f
fl 17 days ago

Unless Sinfield has already seen enough of the Jones system to step up!

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Nickers 4 hours ago
Why the All Blacks overlooking Joe Schmidt could yet hurt them in the Bledisloe battle

I've never understood why Razor stayed on in NZ after winning 3 SR titles in a row. Surely at that point it's time to look for the next thing, which at that stage of his career should not have been the ABs, and arguably still shouldn't be given his lack of experience in International rugby. What was gained by staying on at the Crusaders to win 4 more titles?


2 years in the premiership, 2 years as an assistant international coach, then 4 years taking a team through a WC cycle would have given him what he needed to be the best ABs coach. As it is he is learning on the job, and his inexperience shows even more when he surrounds himself with assistant coaches who have no top international experience either.


He is being faced with extreme adversity and pressure now, possibly for the first time in his coaching career. Maybe he will come through well and maybe he won't, but the point is the coaching selection process is so flawed that he is doing it for the first time while in arguably the top coaching job in world rugby. It's like your first job out of university being the CEO of Microsoft or Google.


There was talk of him going to England if the ABs didn't get him, that would have been perfect in my opinion. That is a super high pressure environment and NZR would have been way better off letting him learn the trade with someone else's team. I predicted when Razor was appointed that he would be axed or resign after 2 years then go on to have a lot of success in his next appointment. I hope that doesn't happen because it will mean a lot of turmoil for the ABs, but it's not unthinkable. Many of his moves so far look exactly like the early days of Foster's era when he too was flanked by coaches who were not up to the job. I would like to see some combination of Cotter, Joseph, Brown, and Felix Jones come into the set up.

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