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Talks resume to get Phil Morrow on Borthwick’s England staff ASAP

Saracens performance director Phil Morrow is wanted by England (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Saracens general manager Phil Morrow is edging closer to permanently joining Steve Borthwick’s England coaching staff after talks resumed following their Autumn Nations Series. Borthwick wants the highly-rated Morrow to replace Aled Walters as head of strength and conditioning and had planned to involve him in the four-game November series against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan.

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However, Gallagher Premiership clubs voted 7-3 in October to block Morrow from a job-sharing agreement, which was Saracens boss Mark McCall’s preferred option. “I hope we can come to an arrangement that suits everybody,” he said.

“I can understand why he is in demand because he is outstanding in his field. Hopefully, small-mindedness doesn’t get in the way of a good decision.”

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Premiership Rugby’s director Phil Winstanley defended the decision of the clubs to block the appointment, telling The Rugby Paper that they had to think on their feet. “We have to find creative ways of managing the system,” he said.

“There have been a number of concerns over the years about shared coaches influencing squad selection. By definition it has an influence on financial benefits for clubs, there is a risk of poaching players and a risk around sensitive data on players from other clubs.

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“That has been a challenge we have had for many years. We felt we could have got over this one, which is why we discussed it as long as we have done, but the bottom line is a number of clubs felt the risk of conflict was too great.”

Morrow, who worked at Ulster and joined Saracens in 2011, has worked alongside McCall for over 20 years and is now expected to leave the former Premiership and European champions before the start of the 2025 Six Nations.

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England dropped from fifth to seventh in the world rankings after losing three of their four November games and could tumble to a record-equalling eighth if Australia win or draw against Ireland next Saturday.

Ironically, if talks go according to plan, Morrow, who has a four-year contract with Saracens and was the IRFU’s head of fitness during Declan Kidney’s time, will join Borthwick’s coaching staff when they kick off their Six Nations campaign in Dublin on February 1.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'It doesn’t make sense for New Zealand to deny itself access to world-class players'

There are a couple of inadequacies in this articles points as well.


First

Robertson, in what he has said publicly, is building his argument for change as a means to close the gap that is increasing between the All Blacks and South Africa.

Based on recent performances, the All Blacks are better than the Springboks.


Second

Both games saw the All Blacks lead coming into the last 30 minutes, only for the momentum to shift dramatically once the two sides emptied their respective benches.

The failings of the second half were game plan related, they happened regardless of whether the bench had yet (play got worse very early in the half, even in the first half) been used or not.


And third

Robertson’s view is that because the Boks don’t lose access to their experienced players when they head offshore, it gives them an advantage

Didn't Razor have the most experienced team all year?


Also

“Sam Cane and Ardie Savea with Wallace Siti, what a balance that is.

This is part of Razor's problem. That's a terrible balance. You instead want something like Sam Cane, Hoskins Sotutu, Wallace Sititi. Or Ardie Savea, Sititi, Scott Barrett. Dalton Papaili'i, Savea, Finau. That is balance, not two old struggling to keep up players and an absolute rookie.

It has changed. Not many go north, more go to Japan, so how do we get the balance right to ensure that players who have given loyalty, longevity and who are still playing well

Experience is a priceless commodity in international rugby and New Zealand has a system where it throws away players precisely when they are at their most valuable.

You mean how do we take advantage of this new environment, because nothing has effectively changed has it. It's simply Japan now instead of Europe. What's it going to be like in the future, how is the new American league going to change things?


Mo'unga is the only real valid reason for debating change, but what's far more important is the wide discussion happening that's taking the whole game into account. The current modem throws players away because they decided to go with a 5 team model rather than a 12 or 14 team model. Players have to be asked to leave at the point were we know they aren't going to be All Blacks, when they are playing their best rugby, reached their peak. In order to reset, and see if the next guy coming through can improve on the 'peak' of the last guy. Of course it's going to take years before they even reach the departing players standards, let alone see if they can pass them.


What if there can be a change that enables New Zealand to have a model were players like Jamison Gibson-Park, James Lowe, Bundee Aki, Chandler Cunningham-South, Ethan Roots, Warner Dearns are All Blacks that make their experienced and youth developemnt the envy of the World. That is the discussion that really needs to be had, not how easy it is to allow Mo'unga to play again. That's how the All Blacks end up winning 3 World Cups in a row.

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