RFU statement: England recruit another 2019 Rugby World Cup winner
New England boss Steve Borthwick has recruited a second member of the Springboks 2019 World Cup-winning staff after securing a deal to enable Felix Jones to join for the 2024 Guinness Six Nations. Borthwick already has Aled Walters set to arrive from Leicester as head of strength and conditioning ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup along with Richard Wigglesworth.
He has now added to that staff by securing the services of Jones, who exited Munster at the end of the 2018/19 season and was quickly parachuted into the Springboks set up as a defence consultant by Rassie Erasmus, with whom he had worked at the Irish province.
Jones then continued with South Africa on a long-term contract as an assistant coach in 2020. He was based in the UK where he kept a close eye on the European-based players of South African interest and dealt directly with them on a regular basis, as well joining the Springboks on full national duty during competitions and training camps.
A statement read: “England Rugby is pleased to announce that men’s head coach Steve Borthwick has appointed Felix Jones to join his coaching team from 2024. Following a playing career that saw him represent Ireland 23 times between 2007 and 2015, Felix was an assistant coach for three years at Munster before joining South Africa as an assistant coach in 2019.
“Richard Wigglesworth, assistant coach, and Aled Walters, head of strength and conditioning, will join Borthwick and defence coach Kevin Sinfield at the end of the Premiership season. Recruitment is now underway for a new forwards coach and additional specialist coaches will be brought in to support the England team during the preparation for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.”
Borthwick said: “Our immediate focus is on preparation for the Rugby World Cup 2023. We are continuing to build our programme to be in a position to compete to be world champions once again. At the same time, I also want to ensure we are preparing for long-term success for this England team and I am excited that a coach as talented as Felix is joining next year.
“Felix has been competing at the top of world rugby during his four years with South Africa and will bring invaluable experience to our set up. Like Aled Walters, Felix was an integral part of the team that won the Rugby World Cup in 2019.
“Together with Richard Wigglesworth and Kevin Sinfield, we are putting in place a coaching team who have spent their careers at the highest level competing for trophies. That is exactly what we want for this England team”.
In a separate statement released via the Springboks, Erasmus said: “It’s a big loss to lose a coach of Felix’s calibre. While we are saddened by the decision. We know how difficult it was for him to make that call and we fully understand the reasons.
“He has been an asset to the Springboks in the last few years and the way he has evolved in his role and willingly took on additional responsibilities to ensure that the team functioned as optimally as possible in his areas of expertise has been admirable.
“We know Felix will remain fully committed to the Springboks cause and give everything as we attempt to defend our Rugby World Cup title in France, and hopefully we can make it a special and memorable send-off for him later this year.”
Jones added: “Coaching the Springboks is one of the biggest privileges in rugby and I intend to do everything I can to ensure the team is successful until the day my contract comes to its natural end.
“The last four years have been an incredible journey for me and my family, both professionally and personally. I am indebted to so many people at the Springboks and in South Africa for that.
“My commitment to the Springboks until the end of the Rugby World Cup is unquestionable, and Rassie, Jacques (Nienaber – the Springboks head coach) and the entire Springboks team know that. The next five months are going to be exciting and demanding, and I’m looking forward to preparing for the World Cup with this coaching team.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments