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Rowntree: Why the England gang of 2015 have 'prospered' in Ireland

(Photo by David Rogers - RFU/Getty Images)

New Munster head coach Graham Rowntree has spoken about how the failed 2015 England coaching ticket is now a success in various roles in Ireland. Following the pool stage elimination from the World Cup seven years ago, head coach Stuart Lancaster and his three assistants – Rowntree, Andy Farrell and Mike Catt – were all released by the RFU to accommodate the new broom under Eddie Jones. The changeover left the ousted four coaches seeking out work elsewhere and the irony now is that all four are working in Ireland in jobs they are highly respected for. 

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Having arrived at Munster as forwards coach in 2020, Rowntree will soon be promoted to head coach on a two-year deal in place of the Bath-bound Johann van Graan. Lancaster, meanwhile, has been a serial trophy-winner in his position as a senior Leinster coach since September 2016, Andy Farrell succeeded Joe Schmidt as Ireland head coach in 2019 having initially worked as his defence coach since 2016, while Farrell recruited Catt as Ireland’s attack coach in 2020 from Italy. 

Given the success now being enjoyed by all four coaches in the Irish game, it would be understandable if there was some level of recrimination over them getting forced out by the RFU following the 2015 England World Cup disappointment, but Rowntree was nothing but magnanimous looking back on what happened seven years ago and what has since transpired. 

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What the All Blacks squad could look like halfway through Super Rugby Pacific | Aotearoa Rugby Pod

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What the All Blacks squad could look like halfway through Super Rugby Pacific | Aotearoa Rugby Pod

“That was a long time ago, we have all moved on, doing different things and since we have moved on England are doing well, they have been in a World Cup final, let’s not deny that,” said Rowntree, the new incoming Munster boss, during a guest appearance on this week’s edition of The Rugby Pod.  

“We move on, all we can deal with is what is presented to you. I love life over here (in Limerick), I love the club I work with, the guys I am working with and I am very fortunate that from July 1 I am leading it. I can’t wait for it. 

“It doesn’t define you,” he added about his England failure. “You drive on to the next role. It’s a business. Professional sport, rugby, it’s a business and what we achieved in 2015 is well recorded. It wasn’t good enough and what happened happened and we all drive on and we’re finding ourselves where we are now. All you can deal with is what is in front of you now. You learn a lot and nationally England have prospered under Eddie. Myself and the other guys, we have prospered in what we are doing so we are just marching forward.

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“I have signed a two-year deal, you don’t get much more than that these days and that is fair enough. It’s a business. I’m happy doing what I am doing now for at least the next two years.”

Rowntree added that the Munster player recruitment for next season is already over, Malakai Fekitoa being their headline signing in place of Damian de Allende, but he is moving quickly to finalise his backroom staff. “There is nothing more to be done recruitment wise. I am happy with where we are at. We have got a great squad, we have got a lot of good lads coming through. Right about now there is a load of lads pushing through.

“The guys within the organisation, certainly the players, know my style, what I want to do. The guys I want to bring in (as assistant coaches) are fairly similar to me. I need to get that nailed over the next couple of weeks and within a few days of pre-season they will know what we are doing, how I want to change things.”

Munster progressed to the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals with their win last Saturday over Exeter at Thomond Park and Rowntree had the height of respect for the challenge posed by the Chiefs. “They are a proper team. I didn’t know until we played Exeter pre-season there is such respect between the two clubs, real respect because of previous European games.

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“As a forwards coach, their scrum and their maul are a handful, they’re a bloody handful and our defensive breakdown was pretty special on Saturday. They are a proper team to play against.” 

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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