Steve Borthwick loses long-time backroom ally to Springboks

The Springboks have hired former England, Scarlets and Ospreys staff member Joe Lewis as their performance analyst.

The Welshman served as England’s head analyst under Eddie Jones between 2017 and 2021, and has been senior analyst for the last four years under Steve Borthwick.

Lewis, whose last game with England was the defeat to France in the Six Nations, becomes the second former RFU employee to jump ship and join the Springboks, after Felix Jones returned to the world champions as defence coach after a short stint at Twickenham.

“We are delighted to welcome Joe to the Springbok team,” said Rassie Erasmus, Springbok head coach.

“Given his vast experience in technical and performance analysis at international and club level, we believe he will add great value to the squad as we prepare for a busy and exciting season, and further ahead to the 2027 RWC.

“His roles have seen him gain invaluable experience at the highest level of the game – at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, in the Six Nations competition, and Autumn Nations Cup, among other big tournaments, and we have no doubt he’ll slot into our set-up seamlessly.”

Lewis joins the Springboks in time for a bumper year of Test fixtures.

The Springboks will kick off their 2026 campaign against the Barbarians in Gqeberha on Saturday, 20 June, before beginning the inaugural Nations Championship competition against England in Johannesburg (4 July), Scotland in Pretoria (11 July), and Wales in Durban (18 July).

They meet Argentina in Buenos Aires (8 August), and the All Blacks in four Tests in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour in August and September.

This will be followed by an away Test against the Wallabies in Australia (27 September). The second leg of the Nations Championship kicks off in Europe at the end of the year, with matches against Italy (7 November), France (13 November), and Ireland (21 November), before the Finals Weekend in London (27 to 29 November).