England’s coaching picture is about to become clearer as Eddie Jones prepares to finalise the positions of the three assistant coaches he inherited from Stuart Lancaster. Jones is due to advise Andy Farrell, Graham Rowntree and Mike Catt over the next 24 hours whether they will be required for this season’s Six Nations campaign, with the futures of other members of England’s backroom staff also under review.
The decision of Shaun Edwards to sign another four-year contract with the Welsh Rugby Union has removed one option for Jones but no fresh appointments will be confirmed until the status of Farrell, Rowntree and Catt has been confirmed. With a Six Nations squad to be announced in a month’s time, a number of Jones’ potential targets are currently engaged in other roles and may not all be available full-time with immediate effect.
Saracens, for example, insist they have not yet received any official request from the Rugby Football Union to talk to Paul Gustard or Alex Sanderson, despite the likelihood of at least one of them joining Jones’ panel of coaches. Gustard has been instrumental in helping the Premiership leaders become one of Europe’s strongest defensive teams, while Sanderson has already worked under Jones at Sarries and the Queensland Reds.
With the former Saracens and England captain Steve Borthwick already pencilled in to assist England’s lineout and work on the pack’s general forward accuracy, Jones has spent this week pondering whether to retain any of Lancaster’s assistants given the limited training opportunities between now and England’s opening Six Nations fixture, against Scotland at Murrayfield on 6 February.
Following England’s premature exit from the World Cup at the pool stage, Jones will be as keen as anyone for his squad to look forward rather than back in a busy 2016 which will involve 13 Tests, including a three-Test tour to Australia. The complication is that the likes of Borthwick, currently with Bristol, and Gustard are committed to their clubs until May and may well have to juggle both roles over the Six Nations period.
That kind of scenario could have been averted had Edwards been snapped up before agreeing to remain a part of Warren Gatland’s managerial team and stay with Wales. It is understood the former Wigan and Great Britain rugby league great might have been open to persuasion had the RFU approached him but, not for the first time, Twickenham has chosen to overlook a fiercely proud Englishman with one of the most success-littered CVs in either code of rugby.
One of England’s senior World Cup squad members, Geoff Parling, has meanwhile signalled his determination to keep playing Test rugby rather than lower the curtain on his international career. The 31-year-old has had to overcome a series of minor fitness niggles since switching from Leicester to Exeter but the experienced lock forward is looking forward to restating his top-level credentials in the Chiefs’ home-and-away European pool games against the French league leaders, Clermont Auvergne, over the next two weekends.
“I definitely want to play for England again,” said Parling, who will be involved against Clermont at Sandy Park on Saturday despite having to satisfy concussion protocols and cope with a bout of stomach trouble. “One of the reasons I stayed in England and didn’t decide to go abroad this season was to have another crack. Who would ever say no to their country? I certainly wouldn’t. I don’t know Eddie Jones but I’d love to meet him.”
Competition in the England second-row is steadily increasing, with Joe Launchbury, Courtney Lawes, George Kruis, Dave Attwood, Ed Slater and Maro Itoje all in the frame, but Parling rejects the idea that youth is the only way forward.
“I appreciate I was one of the older members in the World Cup squad but I actually thought my performances were pretty good,” he said. “I certainly don’t want to finish my England career like that. I was gutted and incredibly frustrated with what happened ... it’s something that will probably stay with every player for a long time, if not always.
“I’m at a new club and I definitely want to throw my name into the hat. To do that I’ve got to have a good run with Chiefs and make a good impression here. I want to enjoy my rugby, which can be quite hard after what happened in the World Cup. Hopefully when the Six Nations comes along I’ll still be a name that’s thrown around.”
