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New England assistant coach Richard Cockerill has given a verdict on his first impressions of the experience working under Eddie Jones. Both coaches have developed quite a reputation in the game as fiery characters and it was a surprise development when Jones sought out Cockerill in July to become his team’s new forwards coach amid the Australian’s latest coaching staff revamp.
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So far, Cockerill has worked with England on the training ground at their two-day mini-camp in late September and over the past fortnight – initially in Jersey last week and this week at Pennyhill Park – leading into this Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series opener versus Tonga.
The expectation is that becoming an assistant under Jones at Test level will require a huge shift in behaviour for Cockerill, who had been used to calling the shots in recent years at both Leicester and Edinburgh. However, he has reported that he has settled in encouragingly into a job where the plan is he will be still involved for the 2023 World Cup in France.
“Eddie knows what he wants,” said Cockerill when asked by RugbyPass about his burgeoning relationship with combustible England boss Jones. “He is a very good coach and we are all trying to bring ourselves together and collaborate and be a tight coaching team and develop. I have enjoyed him. He knows exactly what he wants and he leads the group very well.
“Obviously it’s very, very different (from running a club team). I am just throwing myself into it and enjoying it. New coaching group, I know a couple of the players from my time at Leicester but getting to know the players well and just trying to help and be involved as much as possible. I am enjoying it and happy to be back at Twickenham looking forward to the game.”
England are on red alert after skipper Owen Farrell tested positive for Covid… ?#AutumnNationsSeries #England #ENGvTON
https://t.co/Ik1eyMgPgY— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2021
Saturday’s fixture will be the first time in 22 years that Cockerill will have involvement in a Test level rugby match. The soon-to-be 51-year-old earned the last of his 27 caps as England hooker in a 1999 World Cup match versus Fiji and he can’t wait to familiarise himself again with an England matchday. “Brilliant. I have played for England and this is my first Test as an assistant coach. Looking forward to it. Great to be back at Twickenham. What a wonderful place and just looking forward to helping the team and being involved and making sure we are improving.”
Cockerill will have his work cut out given how the England pack largely failed to fire in the 2021 Six Nations as their fifth-place finish resulted in Jones shaking up his staff and his playing squad. “We are starting a new process into the 2023 World Cup and we are going to build this pack.
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“Lots of people may come in and out of that pack to make it formidable and for us to be able to compete and hopefully dominate world rugby with our forward pack, so that is the idea and we have got some work to do but we are starting that process.
“He is a fantastic player in how he plays, his actions in the game,” added Cockerill about Tom Curry, the regular flanker who has been chosen at No8 to face the Tongans. “Whether that is in any position across the back row he has a huge effect on the game and the balance of that back row with Courtney (Lawes) and Sam Underhill is a very strong one.”
Eddie Jones has revamped the leadership group providing support to England skipper Owen Farrell #AutumnNationsSeries #England #ENGvTONhttps://t.co/JEX6JDIM2P
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
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