'I'm still a bit bitter' - How Borthwick exit blindsided Leicester players

Springbok No.8 Jasper Wiese has lifted the lid on exactly how Steve Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield broke the news of the departure to the RFU and the England job last year.

Following Eddie Jones’ exit as England head coach in December 2022, the RFU paid off a cash-strapped Leicester in order to draft both Borthwick in as head coach and Kevin Sinfield as his defence coach for the national team, buying the pair out of their club contracts.

In a no-holds-barred account, Wiese told Jim Hamilton on The Big Jim Show that despite the media reports of the move, it came as a massive ‘gut punch’ to the team, who were blindsided by the news in the changing room after they beat Clermont on December 17th in the Heineken Champions Cup pool stages.

“Obviously it’s been a big transition. Well, I won’t say a big transition, but a lot of getting used to,” Wiese told The Big Jim Show podcast. “I felt I had like a feeling when especially when it got bad with the media and stuff with Eddie [Jones]. I thought they might bring in somewhere else but I didn’t think they’d take Steve [Borthwick] immediately.

“And then after the Clermont game, he [Borthwick] came into the changing room and said, well, that’s him, he’s done. Kev [Kevin Sinfield] stepped up and everybody’s like, okay, he’s going to announce that he’s becoming the interim head coach. And he said, Steve’s giving him the opportunity to go with him.

“So yeah, that was a shock for me. I thought he’d at least give us like a lead-up and say, well, see “I’ve got two games left. Let’s make it the best that we can”. And I haven’t spoken to any of them since. I must do it.

“Maybe I’m still a bit bitter, but that’s selfish of me. But it was a bit shit. If I can put it like that. Because yeah, both of them played a big part in where I am today. Kev maybe a bit later on. But Steve has been the coach that spotted me to come to Leicester and then obviously pushed me to become better when I arrived here. Literally, no one knew who I was. And he, him and Aled [Walters] working together, put a lot of work in with me.

“So I think I’m a bit selfish and I’m mad at them, but I’d grant them the opportunity. Steve deserves it. Even though you might argue, like you said he’s a bit young or anything, but the amount of work he put  in the two year,  I’ve seen it and I’m sure he’ll do a great job with England as well.

“We [the Springboks] were playing Italy, or well, that was my last week in camp and so I phoned Hanro [Liebenberg], the club captain, and I asked him ‘Steve said anything? We’re seeing all of this, in the media. And he said ‘No, no, he hasn’t said anything.”

“Then I got a week off when I came in or I played one game then got a week off, phoned him again and he said ‘Yes, Steve spoke about it. But he said he hasn’t signed anything’ and that he’s [Liebenberg] in the dark as well. And I was like okay, well maybe my suspicion is wrong. Maybe the media is just hyping this whole big thing up.

“So then it was a genuine shock when it came because when we got it the changing room after the game. I was sat next to Lenny [Ben Youngs] and he went ‘Something’s going on’.

“Nobody knew. We’d just won [beaten Clermont in the Champions Cup]. So I told them that was a good game and everything. He [Youngs] was like ‘something’s going on’, because Steve never brings his wife into the changing room. He always brings his kids.

“Wilksy [Richard Wilks] just sprinted to Steve and they talking and stuff. And I was like ‘oh surely not like this, like surely not like this’. And well, obviously it was like that. So a bit disappointing, but I’m really glad for him and for Kev.”

The big No.8 admits emotions got the better of him and many of his Leicester Tigers teammates.

“It was a bit of a gut punch, definitely. I was emotional. Believe it or not, Steve was emotional.

“And he started talking and you could hear he was becoming emotional and then obviously emotions were high. When he was finished, where I was sat I could see seven guys, eight guys crying.

“So we were sat there like ‘What is happening?’ And then it’s just like a bit of disappointment coming in. And then at the same time you have to be happy for Wiggs [Richard Wigglesworth] as well. Because he is coming out of a massive career. He didn’t tell anybody as well.

“He said he got a phone call on the Friday. When Steve said he signed he got a phone call and said like ‘Would you be able to do this?’ And he [Wigglesworth] didn’t tell anybody like it’s his last game. Didn’t get a send off. Nobody knew, just his wife and his children knew.

“And then you sat there and thinking well, people have preferences as well. They want to end their career in a certain way. I don’t think he would have wanted a big send off but I think he deserved one, if I can put it like that.”