Steve Borthwick will be confirmed on Monday as England head coach after the Rugby Football Union agreed a compensation package for his release with Leicester Tigers. Kevin Sinfield is expected to join as his assistant with the RFU due to unveil Borthwick at Twickenham, nearly two weeks after Eddie Jones was sacked.
Borthwick informed his squad he would be taking the England job after Leicester’s 23-16 victory against Clermont on Saturday and the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, will confirm on Monday that he has secured his No 1 target.
While Leicester were eager to hold on to Sinfield, Borthwick has been determined to take the former England and Great Britain rugby league stalwart with him and he is poised to get his wish with the RFU agreeing a seven-figure deal with the Tigers for the pair’s release.
Leicester had made clear they would not stand in Borthwick’s way, provided the financial agreement was right.
The 43-year-old was identified as the RFU’s preferred choice as part of the union’s “Project Everest” – designed to smooth the coaching pathway from domestic to national level – but Borthwick was initially due to arrive in June and shadow Jones at the World Cup in France next year. Instead, Borthwick is parachuted into the job with only nine months until the World Cup and five competitive matches – the Six Nations next year – before the campaign begins. He will first work with the players next month before the Six Nations but has the benefit of being Jones’s right‑hand man for the 2019 World Cup campaign.
He also cut his international teeth under Jones with Japan and guided Leicester to the Premiership title last season – a triumph that has convinced those at the RFU who questioned whether Borthwick was ready for the top job. Bringing Sinfield with him to Welford Road was among his shrewdest moves as Leicester head coach and the 42-year-old is likely to be installed as England’s new defence coach.
That could mean one of the shortest tenures in history for Brett Hodgson, who has only just taken over the role from Anthony Seibold.
Richard Cockerill was placed in interim charge after Jones was sacked and led the coaches review after the disappointing autumn campaign that saw England win only one of four Tests before they were booed off the field after the defeat by South Africa – a significant reason for Sweeney wielding the axe. Cockerill may be kept on, at least until the summer when Borthwick is likely to get something closer to his first-choice staff in place, but the future of the attack coach Martin Gleeson and Matt Proudfoot, who with Cockerill oversees the forwards, is less clear.
With time against him and without all his preferred assistants from the outset, Borthwick is up against it to turn England into contenders in France next year. He turned Leicester’s fortunes around by bringing clarity, organisation, robust defence and a territory-based game‑plan high on kicking and marshalled by George Ford who could well find himself back in favour. He appointed Ellis Genge as captain last season – another shrewd move – and the loosehead prop could come into contention for the role with England soon enough.
If Borthwick’s approach was successful with Leicester, however, it was not always easy on the eye and as England head coach there will be a degree of expectation to entertain as well as achieve results.
The expectation is that Borthwick will be given a long-term deal which includes the 2027 World Cup and if Sweeney may see fit to insert a break clause into his contract after next year’s tournament, Borthwick can hardly be entirely blamed should England flop in France. He is unlikely to be as well remunerated as Jones, whose contract was worth £750,000 plus his wide portfolio of commercial arrangements – something the RFU always insisted it was happy with but is unlikely to encounter as much with Borthwick.
