Steve Borthwick could spend Christmas in limbo as Bristol debate whether to seek an injunction preventing him from starting work as England’s forwards’ coach.
Borthwick remains on Bristol’s payroll after the club refused to accept the resignation he submitted on Tuesday, a few hours before the Rugby Football Union issued a statement saying he was joining England with immediate effect.
Borthwick has not been at Bristol’s training ground this week preparing for the weekend British and Irish Cup match at Bedford. The RFU, while not responding to a request for comment on Wednesday, said at a media reception the previous evening that the former England captain would be starting work with the new national head coach, Eddie Jones, straight away.
Bristol were blamed for the deadlock in the negotiations over Borthwick’s release from his contract, with the RFU indicating the club was demanding a compensation fee of considerably more than the £375,000 remaining on his contract and talking about the potential financial consequences of missing out on promotion.
The RFU broke off negotiations and declared Borthwick was working for them after he submitted his resignation letter to Bristol having taken legal advice. The governing body is reported to be ready to go to court if Bristol take out an injunction, confident of winning.
Bristol were on Wednesdaynot going beyond the statement issued on Tuesday which talked of “taking all reasonable actions as necessary to protect the club’s position”. The legal route is being considered because by walking out on the club without the RFU agreeing a compensation package, Borthwick has left himself liable for the remaining 18 months on his contract.
Bristol would not comment on whether there was a notice period in Borthwick’s contract. The RFU referred to his letter of resignation rather than saying he had handed in his notice and the battle between club and country is who Borthwick is now working for.
One of the reasons the RFU acted unilaterally this week after negotiations with Bristol reached an impasse was that with the naming of the England squad a month away, it wants Borthwick to be able to watching Champions Cup and European matches immediately, gathering information on players and speaking to them.
Should Bristol take out an injunction preventing him from working for the RFU while his contractual position is sorted out, Borthwick would be able to do no more than watch matches on his television and laptop, paid by Bristol but wanting to be working for England. While a compromise is normally found in disputes like this, Bristol are angry at the way the union has acted this week and at what they see as a dismissive attitude towards the importance of promotion to the club seven years after being relegated from the Premiership.
It is the RFU chief executive, Ian Ritchie, whose previous job was at Wimbledon, who has the next serve. If Jones is to have Borthwick by his side this month, Ritchie needs to reach agreement with Bristol who have already started searching for Borthwick’s successor as forwards’ coach . Graham Rowntree, released by England this week, and the former Australia hooker Michael Foley, now in charge of Western Force but once of Bath, are potential candidates.
