New attack coach Lee Blackett is convinced he has enough time to give England the tools needed to challenge for the 2027 World Cup.
Blackett will leave Bath at the end of the month to join Steve Borthwick’s revamped coaching team with the autumn series opener against Australia on November 1 the first of around 21 Tests before Australia 2027.
The 42-year-old former Wasps boss will take charge of the attack after impressing in the role as a temporary appointment during the successful summer tour to Argentina and the USA when Richard Wigglesworth was on British and Irish Lions duty.
Welcome to the team, Lee Blackett 🌹
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) September 13, 2025
Now that the halfway mark of the current World Cup cycle has been reached, planning for the tournament ramps up, but Blackett understands the danger of looking beyond the Wallabies’ visit to Allianz Stadium.
“It’s five campaigns. Do I think we’ve got enough time? Yes,” said Blackett, England’s 11th attack coach since 2016 when Borthwick’s predecessor Eddie Jones arrived at Twickenham.
“You’re looking for each campaign to get better and better. Five campaigns is enough to see people, it’s enough to develop our game, definitely.
“The most important thing for me is I want to win and my job is to put us in the best place to score points and score tries.
“Momentum’s massive in sport, and especially at the start of campaigns and so we are talking about Australia. If you’re thinking too far ahead, all of a sudden momentum can go.
“How many teams have you seen lose momentum in the start? You never get it back. And in international rugby, because you’ve got four games in the autumn and the Six Nations, you have to get off to a flying start. So Australia is massive.”
Blackett has been taking part in his first England training camp since becoming the full-time attack coach, although he had no role in picking the 36 players involved in the three-day familiarisation exercise in Surrey.
The biggest intrigue ahead of the autumn is who will be given the fly-half duties with George Ford excelling on the summer tour while Fin Smith and Marcus Smith were with the Lions in Australia.
For now it appears to be a three-way shootout given that Owen Farrell has been overlooked, although Borthwick has yet to confirm whether his former skipper will be involved in the future following his return to Saracens.
“Any attack coach or head coach always wants one key thing: make sure you’ve got good 10s because they make such a big difference,” Blackett said.
“We’re really lucky because I think everyone on the outside is looking at our 10s and saying ‘look how many they’ve got and the quality they’ve got’.
“There are three in this squad so a couple of them are going to be disappointed. But with the three of them competing, it’s going to make them better. They’re all going to have to be at their best.”
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