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RFU to reunite Harlequins pair O'Shea and Mapletoft?
It has been a tumultuous year for the England age-grade pathway, with sweeping changes that have failed to bring the desired results on the pitch.
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The coaching trio of John Fletcher, Peter Walton and Russell Earnshaw were let go in June of 2018, with Jim Mallinder brought in at the under-18 level to work with fellow new hire Steve Bates at the under-20 level and Dean Ryan as Head of International Player Development.
The new-look pathway staff has since been disbanded, however, as Ryan has taken the director of rugby job at the Dragons, Mallinder is now the performance director at the Scottish Rugby Union and Bates was released after a disappointing season that saw the England under-20 side finish third in the Six Nations and fifth in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship.
Italy head coach Conor O’Shea, who is currently preparing his side for their Rugby World Cup opener against Namibia, has been heavily linked with a return to the Rugby Football Union (RFU), where he spent three seasons as Director of Regional Academies between 2005 and 2008. Fuel has only been added to the fire of those rumours by the stories circulating that Wales assistant coach Rob Howley could take over as Italy head coach after the Rugby World Cup.
Which of the three vacant roles O’Shea would be in the mix for remains to be seen, although RugbyPass understands that current Harlequins academy coach Mark Mapletoft is one of the names being considered for the vacant under-20 head coach position.
Mapletoft knows O’Shea well from their time together at Harlequins, where Mapletoft served as backs, attack and head coach during the Irishman’s tenure. The 47-year-old is well-acquainted with the RFU, too, having spent four years there as a National Academy Coach and serving as backs and head coach with the under-20 side.
Formerly Harlequins’ head coach, Mapletoft transitioned into a role with the club’s academy this summer, as Head of Rugby Paul Gustard rebalanced his coaching staff following the arrival of Sean Long from St Helens.
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RugbyPass understands that Newcastle Falcons academy and skills coach Mark Laycock is another person in the RFU’s sights, as the governing body attempts to put the recent instability to bed and revive England’s fortunes on the age-grade pathway.
Watch: Eddie Jones and Owen Farrell face the press out in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Pls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
124 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
124 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
124 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
124 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to comments