Borthwick 'approached' by Ulster Rugby but did not apply for role - RFU
The RFU have stated that England forwards coach Steve Borthwick did not apply for the previously vacant headcoach role with Ulster Rugby.
A RFU spokesperson has clarified that Borthwick was approached in relation to the role but did not take the matter further.
The RFU have told RugbyPass: “Steve Borthwick is completely committed to England. He has not applied for any other coaching roles since he joined England in 2016.”
In May, eyebrows were raised after it was confirmed that defence coach Paul Gustard would be leaving to take up the vacant top job at Harlequins.
RugbyPass columnist Andy Goode said at the time: “Gustard has been an integral part of his coaching setup since 2016 and for him to leave 16 months out from a World Cup isn’t a good sign”, while World Cup winner Lewis Moody also questioned the England camp environment, telling RugbyPass at the time: “What does this say about the coaching environment where Paul Gustard, who didn’t get to play for England and has carved a wonderful path as a coach, steps away from an England team heading to a World Cup?”
England, who sustained their sixth loss in a row to South Africa in Bloemfontein over the weekend, have become a camp under siege. Players have been criticised for their on and off-field attitude, while Jones’ position now appears endangered – a situation which would have been unthinkable just five months ago.
“I don’t need any dialogue with the RFU, all I need to do is my job and I do my job as well as I can every day”, Jones said in an interview with Sky Sports. “All I can do is coach the team as well as I can.”
The RFU say that Borthwick was approached for the role by the club but did not apply for the role.
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Interim coach Jono Gibbes returned to New Zealand for ‘family reasons’, although it has since been confirmed that he will take up a lucrative role with La Rochelle in the Top 14.
If Borthwick had been accepted for the Ulster role, it would have been a potential double whammy for England – meaning the side would have lost both their defence and forwards coach in one foul swoop.
Borthwick today backed Eddie ability to turn England around, telling the Telegraph: “I have worked for Eddie for a long time now. I see consistency,” said Borthwick. “He’s an excellent coach – we all know that – and what this England team has done over the last couple of years with the work he has led has been tremendous.
He also defended comparisons made following Wales tour of Argentina, saying: “Clearly I know Warren having worked with him previously, 12 months ago. While respecting him as a coach, he can have his opinion, ultimately we went to Argentina last year and won 2-0.”
Borthwick captained England under Martin Johnson from 2008 and was a member of the England squad which reached the Rugby World Cup Final against South Africa in 2007.
His playing career spanned 16 years, which included captaining Bath and Saracens, before retiring at the end of the 2013/14 season with a record 265 Premiership appearances.
He began his transition into coaching while still playing for Saracens and became Japan forwards coach in 2012, before joining Jones’ coaching ticket from Bristol.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments