Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

A senior role likely for England coach Steve Borthwick at Leicester Tigers

Steve Borthwick

England forwards coach Steve Borthwick appears to have found his post-Rugby World Cup landing spot back in the Premiership with Leicester Tigers and what’s more – it’s set to be a senior role.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Welford Road outfit had been criticized in recent years for lacking the forward grunt traditionally associated with the no-nonsense club.

With that in mind, Tigers have aggressively recruited to their pack over the summer with the signing of Puma’s Tomas Lavanini, Hanro Liebenberg, Calum Green, 149kg Nephi Leatigaga and Jordan Taufua, as well as Jaco Taute and Noel Reid in the backs.

RugbyPass understands that the former Saracens lock is set to take up a senior role with the storied club, who are looking to bolster their forward IP after a number of disappointing Gallagher Premiership campaigns.

While it is unclear exactly what role Borthwick will take, it is hard to imagine the former England captain not having some degree of a hands-on role with the forwards, whatever his title may be.

Video Spacer

Borthwick remained coy when quizzed about the move 10 days ago in Japan. “We discussed that a couple of weeks ago didn’t we?,” said Borthwick. “I’m clearly contracted to the RFU beyond the World Cup. That’s been confirmed several times and there’s nothing I can really add beyond that.”

Leicester Tigers refused to comment on the move when a statement was requested by RugbyPass.

ADVERTISEMENT

A Director of Rugby position at the club would allow current head coach Geordan Murphy to save face while allowing Borthwick to further his own coaching career after a successful stint with Eddie Jones’ England.

Alternatively, Murphy could opt for a DoR role himself, with Borthwick slotting in as head coach.

Considerable pressure was heaped on Murphy (41), who took the reigns at Welford Road following the sudden exit of Matt O’Connor just one week into the regular season.

Towards the end of the season, with Tigers on the verge of relegation, veteran coach Mike Ford was parachuted into the club in a consultancy role. In July that role was revised to that of attack coach.

ADVERTISEMENT

Current forwards coach Mark Bakewell arrived at Tigers in February 2018 with more than 20 years of experience as a coach.

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 42 minutes ago
18 debutants but Australia's core looking ‘more settled than ever’

Not so many when you compare it to the squad of 50 plus players used by SA. Four main problems with the team and Schmidt shows he is a good technician but poor international coach by not selecting the best players and rotating and developing key positions.


First, the scrum is woeful if Bell and Thor don’t play. AAA and Nongoor in particular are poor. Talea may be good but is not good enough. Schmidt should select Sio, Ainsley and Latu as the bench front row. All playing well in Europe. He should also be doing better with Pone and perhaps getting him over to France to work on his scrummaging. Pone is our best running prop but poor coaching has killed him. Needs better coaching OS provided eg Skelton and Meafou. Secondly, 9 and 10 combo. McDermott is a confidence player and is terrible on a bad day. He takes several steps before passing which kills the speed of ball and results in turnovers. Better off with Kerr Barlow who is playing well with La Rochelle and making McDermott work on his skills. Edmed probably does need a run too. Thirdly, centre and fullback. Perese is our best defender at centre and should be in the squad. The outside back defence is poor without Joe and needs to be shored up. Wright is also a confidence player and has poor defence. When he is off like he was last week better to replace him with someone like Reece Hodge who has a great boot and good D. Fourthly, lack of ball runners who break tackles outside of Bobby V and Skelton. Wilson is not up to international standard and dosent break tackles nor does McReight. Replace him with Gleeson and Leota on the bench if fit. Would also be better playing Pone than Nongoor as Pone at least has a good running game. Latu also makes ground. Amatesero is also a better player than Williams. Frost has been the standout fine. Finally, player rotation. Schmidt is grinding key players like Bell and Bobby V into dust. He needs to give them breaks by utilising OS players more and developing youngsters. The loss of Meafou to France and the guy who captained Scotland exemplifies the poor coaching and development in Aus.

8 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules Stephen Donald weighs in on All Blacks eligibility ruling
Search