Next England Head Coach (Pre World Cup)

[GB72]

To be honest, the whole episode reminds me of when the RFU decided to make the game professional. No plan in place. Jump off a cliff and hope for a parachute. What a shambles

And I am starting to feel that the RFU are not finding it as easy going as they planned. I suspect that they thought that we would take whatever offer was on the table and have it all signed and sorted pretty sharpish. You have most of the media outlets printing content as if SB had already been appointed but there has been no announcement or comment by any party. I suspect that everyone would like it done and dusted by the time of our match press conference tomorrow but at the momment we do not even know who is picking the team for the weekend.

[Old Hob]

I agree with you GB. Perhaps the RFU misinterpreted the "We won't stand in his way" as "He's yours, come and get him" which it clearly wasn't. Perhaps SB is reluctant having seen the details of the appointment.

[Rugbygramps]

GB72 Tigers have said they won’t put any barriers in Borthwicks way. Do you think they will release him while compensation negotiations are on going, purely so it becomes less of a distraction to the club.

[GB72]

GB72 Tigers have said they won’t put any barriers in Borthwicks way. Do you think they will release him while compensation negotiations are on going, purely so it becomes less of a distraction to the club.

No, I think we hold on until the terms are agreed otherwise we too lose a bargaining chip. I think that there will be a lot of brinksmanship but I suspect the RFU will cave and I can see an announcement mid morning tomorrow before the team announcement and match press conferences. I suspect that SB will start at the RFU on Monday and will take charge of this as his last match but I also expect that he will not be on media duty before or after the game.

Part of me thinks that a sticking point will be that SB wants to start the job with his whole team in place and that may be proving too rich for the RFU at the moment. Certainly, if he has any intention of having a decent shot at the world cup, he needs his full backroom staff in place to assess everything over the 6 nations and it could even be that SB is insisting that they are part of the agreement for him to sign. I cannot see him wanting to be stuck with what EJ left in place and i cannot see anyone else wanting the coaching positions that they know are likley to be available only until the summer. In that case, they then have to look at severance payments for the existing staff as well.

The RFU seem to have forgotten the old adage that you can have it done quick or you can have it done cheap but rarely both.

[ads]

So, if we let them have KS, AW & RW do the RFU then have to sack Cockers, Proudfoot, Seibold and whoever else is currently on the Englnad coaching staff? Will that cost them even more money paying them off.

[GB72]

So, if we let them have KS, AW & RW do the RFU then have to sack Cockers, Proudfoot, Seibold and whoever else is currently on the Englnad coaching staff? Will that cost them even more money paying them off.

Depends on the contracts etc but yes, anyone who SB does not want to keep on as backroom staff will be released. With the number of coaches that EJ has been through, I suspect that they are used to that. Not sure what the norm is for the length of other coaches' contracts in the set up. If they are contracted through to the end of the World Cup then yes, that could be expensive. Then again, the figures being quoted by the media to remove EJ may include the cost of removing pack room staff as well. Not sure on that.

I suspect that there will be a clearout, Just cannot see SB and Cockers working in perfect harmony together.

[Wayne Richardson Fan Club]

Imagine if SB said no to the RFU now....

I am still not sure why Aled is needed at International level it rather suggests you don't trust other clubs S&C coaches, I still wonder about a proud Welshman working for the RFU.

I can see SB needing someone far more media savvy than himself involved more closely, that side of the job is miles away from coach of a singular club.

[Smudge]

Woops! I can't believe I wrote Robinson instead of Robertson.( Late night and a glass of whiskey).Sorry to confuse you.
However the point remains a good one if I call him "Razor". Above all he is a proven, very successful coach
He would be quite an acquisition. We live in hope.
Opinion among my chums is that Tigers will revert to type and use the compensation to pay off debts
and promote from within. Wigglesworth and Deacon! Brett has done a reasonable job with the second string.

[Tiglon]

The problem for the RFU and Borthwick is if they pay the sort of money Tigers are allegedly demanding, it will be £3m+ in total to get rid of Jones, Cockers etc and install the Tigers coaching team - before they've even paid any of the new coaching team.

The extra pressure that puts on them for instant results (both the RFU and SB) shouldn't be underestimated. If you're going to pay £3m to change your coaching team less than a year before a RWC, you really need to win the whole thing. Will SB and Co deliver £3m worth of better results in 2023 than Jones would have? Big ask....

I'd worry about the reaction if the 6N doesn't go well.

[TigerFeetSteve]

https://twitter.com/EgertonSport/status ... FTu-A&s=19

Seems Borthwick is doing press commitments for our game this weekend suggests he'll still be in place this weekend...

[GB72]

The problem for the RFU and Borthwick is if they pay the sort of money Tigers are allegedly demanding, it will be £3m+ in total to get rid of Jones, Cockers etc and install the Tigers coaching team - before they've even paid any of the new coaching team.

The extra pressure that puts on them for instant results (both the RFU and SB) shouldn't be underestimated. If you're going to pay £3m to change your coaching team less than a year before a RWC, you really need to win the whole thing. Will SB and Co deliver £3m worth of better results in 2023 than Jones would have? Big ask....

I'd worry about the reaction if the 6N doesn't go well.

You do start to get the feeling that the RFU have not thought this one through fully and, as I mentioned before, I suspect they thought that us not putting any hurdles in the way meant they would not get stung financially whereas what it clearly meant was that we would not stop them talking, we would not stop him leaving but we will get our pound of flesh out of the deal espcially as the RFU were stupid enough to sack EJ without having a full deal in place and thus they lost their only bargaining chip.

Interesting comments on this week's podcast that the appointment of SB as the next England Coach was agreed 3-4 weeks ago but that would have been post world cup. You sort of feel that the RFU thought they could call everyone on Monday, tell them that they wanted the deal to start now and that would all be fine and dandy.

[sapajo]

Woops! I can't believe I wrote Robinson instead of Robertson.( Late night and a glass of whiskey).Sorry to confuse you.
However the point remains a good one if I call him "Razor". Above all he is a proven, very successful coach
He would be quite an acquisition. We live in hope.
Opinion among my chums is that Tigers will revert to type and use the compensation to pay off debts
and promote from within. Wigglesworth and Deacon! Brett has done a reasonable job with the second string.

Why would Robertson come here when he is odds on favourite to be the next All Blacks coach post the World Cup

[GB72]

https://twitter.com/EgertonSport/status ... FTu-A&s=19

Seems Borthwick is doing press commitments for our game this weekend suggests he'll still be in place this weekend...

That is not looking great for the RFU. there is no way that SB would want to be up in front of the media tomorrow having to deflect questions about the England job. That said, and as also mooted on the podcast, it may be that he is up in front of the media following an RFU announcement and simply states that he starts with England on Monday, today he is a Tiger and he will only answer questions about the match today.

[Rugbygramps]

I didn’t think my dislike of James Haskell would get any worse but I have just listened to an interview he gave to Sky Sports.
In short he dismissed 80000 people at Twickenham as a corporate crowd who didn’t know what they were talking about and it doesn’t matter that they booed because the atmosphere is always flat. Jones shouldn’t have been sacked as he’s Englands most successful ever coach no mention of the fact that the wheels have come off in the last 18 months, or the lack of tactics and selecting out of form players and players out of position.
He did get to mention that he had just come back from DJing in Dubai. He’s never afraid of a little self publicity

[Smudge]

Sapajoe wrote
Why would Robertson come here when he is odds on favourite to be the next All Blacks coach post the World Cup

That's not what several publications are reporting!. From what I have read, despite being a great and successful club coach he is not favoured at all by the NZ RFU. In fact they dislike him intensely. Hardly odds on favourite to be their next coach..