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How the Leicester dressing room reacted to Steve Borthwick sacrificing Lions coaching role
It was April 13 when Warren Gatland unveiled the identity of his four assistants for the upcoming Lions tour to South Africa and the name of Steve Borthwick was missing, the Leicester coach deciding he couldn’t afford to be away from his Gallagher Premiership club during their pre-season for the 2021/22 campaign.
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Ex-England assistant Borthwick joined up with the Tigers on July 1 last year having finished up a long stint in the Test scene under Eddie Jones that has started in Japan before they switch to the English following the 2015 World Cup.
Handed the huge task of rejuvenating the fallen giant of Leicester, Borthwick encountered teething difficulties when the suspended 2019/20 campaign was played to a conclusion. Leicester lost seven of their nine Premiership games and were knocked out of the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage.
Tigers have shown improvement this season, winning eight of their 17 games in the league so far and again working their way back into the last four of the second-tier European competition. It left Borthwick primed to be called up to help coach the 2021 Lions in South Africa, reprising the role he had for the 2017 tour to New Zealand.
However, rather than entertain Gatland, Borthwick rebuffed the Lions offer to instead remain fully focused on his task of turning around the fortunes of Leicester, a sacrifice that has been very well received inside the Tigers dressing room.
“I probably lacked a bit of power in contact"
– Nemani Nadolo has taken up powerlifting 🏋️ again and an 11-week break in between games led to 2️⃣ tries on his return
https://t.co/PbbIYSmPDA— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 30, 2021
“It shows the character of who he is,” reckoned veteran winger Nemani Nadolo, who joined the English club from Montpellier at the same time that Borthwick arrived in the door at Oval Park. “He has asked us to buy into this journey. That is the ultimate honour over here to represent the Lions, he could have gone but he set that standard and we are following it so for him it was a no-brainer to hang around and see us do well.
“That just shows who he is as a person and it makes you want to play for someone like that. It says a lot about him and makes us want to play more for a coach. For me, there are not too many coaches who would do that.”
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Now aged 33 and with a contract extension inked for next season, Nadolo is enjoying his role as an elder statesman in the Leicester set-up. “I have never been in this situation before, being in an environment where you sort of are the older guy now and you are not only going about your business but you are helping the young guys come through.
“The great thing about these Leicester Tigers is they have got some young backs coming through and to be part of their progress is something that I’m really excited about. To have a hand in this is great for me and my way of giving back I guess.
“It’s just things in the meetings, we get together or have coffees of stuff, they will ask questions or if there is something in the game that we see could be done well we bounce ideas off each other. They have helped me a lot in my game as well as trying to keep up with these guys. Speaking on Fred (Steward), he is a talent. He is a bloke that wants to learn which is really good. The young guys here I couldn’t fault them, they are like sponges and want to learn.”
The teenager's form since he returned to Tigers after his Test debut has been exemplary
https://t.co/cQM8bez9mW— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) April 28, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
24 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments