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'Eclectic': The Jones verdict on Cockerill and co joining England
Eddie Jones has declared himself satisfied with the latest overhaul of his England coaching staff, Richard Cockerill, Anthony Seibold and Martin Gleeson all contracted in time for next week’s mini-training camp in London. Having finished fifth in the Six Nations last March, the English boss had been looking to revamp his backroom staff and he has done so following the exits of Simon Amor, Jason Ryles and John Mitchell.
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He hopes in time they will all fit together like a glove and guide England all the way through to the 2023 World Cup in France. “We have an eclectic mix of coaches. A South African (Matt Proudfoot), a Coventry boy, it’s such a small world. Cockerill was signed by Tony Russ, who was the director of rugby when I played for Leicester. He has come in.
“We have got Seibold, who is an Australian, and then we have got Martin Gleeson, who is a Wigan boy, so their backgrounds are quite diverse, they bring different ideas to the table and what they have got to do is add to our game. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
Jones explained that he had been looking to add a second coach to help look after the forwards since bringing in Proudfoot, who had been scrum coach with the World Cup-winning Springboks until he joined England for the 2020 Six Nations.
“The difficult thing post the World Cup, we finished the World Cup in November and we all needed a bit of a break because we were exhausted and then we had the Six Nations starting, so we had December to try to recruit staff. We had been looking before that but for those three months, the only focus you had was the World Cup so we had December to find the right staff.
"I have never been so excited in my life"
– Eddie Jones on his England stint and what to do to fix Owen Farrellhttps://t.co/LckuPh3lNJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 22, 2021
“Matt Proudfoot was available. At that stage, we couldn’t find another forwards coach of the appropriate standard to help him because it is a two-man job coaching the forwards these days. It’s very hard for one coach to do it given the detail of the lineouts, scrums, kick-off, you have the ruck, around the ruck, so we were always looking to find a second forwards coach and the timing of Richard’s availability (this summer) was first-class. Now we have got two good forwards coaches to look after the biggest area of the game.”
Jones added that he and Cockerill never shared the dressing room as Leicester players as the Australian had left England by the time his new assistant arrived to play at hooker, the position he had also played in. “He [Cockerill] came just after me. I had to go back and be acting principal in a school in 1992 which is the hardest job I have ever done in my life.
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“Much harder than being the head coach of England. Imagine doing a Zoom call with 700 parents, 70 teachers. Now that is challenging. So this [coaching England] is like a piece of cake. He came after that, in the summer of the next season in ’92.”
"That's my memory of Michael Lynagh. At that stage I was probably a reasonable chance to play for Australia but that went out the window getting beaten 30-0 by Queensland"
– England boss Eddie Jones on the father and son Lynagh factor… #Englandhttps://t.co/Wp64E9l5kB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 23, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
We had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getitng to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
57 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
57 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
57 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
57 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
57 Go to comments