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England confirm Cockerill and Seibold signing

Richard Cockerill

England Rugby have confirmed the addition of Richard Cockerill and Anthony Seibold as part of a ‘finalised’ senior men’s coaching set-up.

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The dramatic capture of Cockerill from Edinburgh was unofficially a done deal for well over a month. Seibold replaces John Mitchell as defence coach.

The 50-year-old joins as a forwards coach and will work alongside Matt Proudfoot. An England statement described him as having “a distinguished playing career, winning 27 caps for England and making more than 250 appearances for Leicester Tigers, along with spells with Coventry and Montferrand.”

Cockerill became Leicester head coach in 2009 and won the Premiership title on three occasions – 2009, 2010 and 2013. Cockerill had a brief stint as a rugby consultant at Toulon before spending four years at Edinburgh Rugby, where he was credited with turning around their PRO14 fortunes and transforming them into a more competitive outfit.

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Jones said: “We’re two years from the World Cup so we wanted to freshen up our coaching team and get the right people in place for where we want to go – which is to win the World Cup.

“We’ve added Richard to the team to work with Matt to create a dominant forward pack. He’s a former England player, has great coaching experience and comes in as a well-rounded, mature, driven English coach.

“Anthony is a coach that I have had a relationship with since 2019 and have followed his career closely. He is a good coach and thinks deeply about the game. John Mitchell did a great job improving us in defence and Anthony will add further nuances to the good system that he has put into place.

“It’s an exciting time for rugby with the new season starting, supporters back in the stadium and the return of the grassroots game this weekend – with the rugby community celebrating being back together at Pitch Up for Rugby events around the country. We’re looking forward to getting the squad back together and growing this England team.”

Cockerill said: “I am excited to be joining Eddie Jones and the England team, working with the players and staff.

“I look forward to being part of and contributing to the world class environment that is England Rugby.”

Meanwhile Rugby League convert Seibold has been appointed as England defence coach. He arrives from his most recent role as head coach of the Brisbane Broncos in Australia’s National Rugby League. He was previously head coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs, where he was named the NRL Daily M coach of the year in 2018 and has coached at a number of clubs including Manly Sea Eagles, Melbourne Storm and Queensland in the State of Origin series.

Seibold’s playing career, included spells in England with Hull KR and London Broncos, along with Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. He is currently a coaching mentor at Newcastle Knights.

Seibold said: “I am very much looking forward to joining the England coaching staff and building upon the work that has been done by the coaching staff and players over recent seasons. Eddie is one of the leading coaches in world sport and the opportunity to work under him through to the 2023 World Cup in France along with the other staff was an opportunity that I could not pass up.

“The depth of talent and the opportunity to work with the elite players in the English game is something that really excites me going forward. I am looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge that international rugby presents.”

The coaching team will first work with the England squad at a mini-camp at The Lensbury next month. England will then begin preparations for their three Test matches at Twickenham Stadium this autumn with a week’s training camp in Jersey in late Ocotober. They will be hosted by Jersey Reds and use the facilities at the Strive high performance centre.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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