Steve Borthwick is free to start work as England’s forwards coach after the club he walked out on last Tuesday, Bristol, finally agreed a compensation package with the Rugby Football Union.
Borthwick handed in his resignation a few hours before the RFU announced he would be joining the management team of the new England head coach, Eddie Jones, and renewing their old partnership with Japan, but Bristol refused to release him from his 18-month contract, having failed to agree a compensation package with Twickenham, and took legal advice.
The RFU maintained that Borthwick was their employee from the moment he submitted his resignation to the club he had joined after the World Cup, but as Bristol considered whether to take out an injunction to stop him working for England, the governing body started negotiating again – and only Jones was mentioned in a media release on Friday saying which European Champions Cup matches the national management would be attending this weekend.
Bristol had demanded compensation beyond the £375,000 remaining on the former England captain’s contract, saying that his wage reflected the club’s Championship, rather than Premiership, status, and the agreed figure is believed to be around £500,000.
“We very much appreciate that our approach for Steve has come at a challenging time for Bristol during the season and, in such circumstances, I thank them and the club’s chairman, Chris Booy, in particular, for reaching this agreement,” said the RFU chief executive, Ian Ritchie.
Booy said: “On behalf of the club, we wish Steve Borthwick the very best with England, and we are pleased that we can move on and begin the process to recruit a new coach as quickly as possible.”
While Borthwick started work on Saturday, the defence coach, Paul Gustard, will join the management team from Saracens next month, after the end of the group stage of the Champions Cup.
Before the deal was agreed, Steve Lansdown, Bristol’s owner, told BBC Radio Bristol: “They [the RFU] think they can ride roughshod over everybody, but they are finding out they can’t. I can’t believe that the governing body has acted in such a way. It is totally unprofessional. I don’t think the RFU have covered themselves in any form of glory whatsoever.”
