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The Bok verdict on Steve Borthwick's potential assistant Norman Laker

Norman Laker is reportedly on Steve Borthwick's England shortlist (Photo by Getty Images)

England head coach Steve Borthwick is drawing closer to finding a replacement for departing defence coach Felix Jones, with reports emerging of a three-man shortlist. Stade Francais head coach Paul Gustard, Oyonnax head coach Joe El-Abd and Stormers defence coach Norman Laker are the three that have emerged as Jones’ potential successors.

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Of the three, Laker possibly has the most in common with Jones having also worked with Jacques Nienaber, the architect of the defensive structure adopted by England through the Irishman.

Laker and Nienaber previously worked together at Western Province, and were in close communication when the latter started coaching South Africa. Laker even brought Nienaber into his Stormers camp to ensure club and country were effectively singing from the same hymn sheet.

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Three former Western Province players, Hanyani Shimange, Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger, have now given their view on the potential appointment on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office.

Though the trio may not have worked with Laker extensively, they have witnessed the defensive structure he has implemented, which Burger said “gives you an idea of how Steve wants to defend”.

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Shimange backed Laker to strengthen England’s defence, while de Villiers conversely had some reservations about the move. “What has happened is Felix has come with this rush defence,” Shimange said.

“Norman has worked extensively with Felix and with Jacques more than anything else. Norman started when Jacques was at the Stormers, so it is obviously the ability to replicate that rush defence that England got used to towards the end of the internationals.

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“Would he strengthen the defensive system? Yes. Would he do a good job? Yes. He might not leave, but it’s a nice thing to know someone is watching.”

The former Springboks centre’s scepticism is regarding a move to a different rugby culture, and how that can be problematic in terms of getting your message across.

He said: “The thing with Norman, let’s say he goes to England, it’s always interesting to see how he adapts culturally. Technicals and coaching are one thing, getting your message across with guys from other nationalities is another, sometimes, as they say it’s lost in translation.”

Burger added: “You still want to know what happened there to Felix. He went across as a defence coach, we all knew him as an attack coach. He is a great coach either way, he will be able to convert.

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“If you look at the names on the list, it gives you an idea of how Steve wants to defend. You have got to have line speed, you have got to be aggressive. You want to defend to get the ball back. That is why you get someone that does the rush, puts pressure on other sides. You want them to make errors.”

  • RugbyPass TV’s Boks Office is a weekly show focusing on all the main talking points in rugby from the southern hemisphere and beyond, with a new episode available to watch every Tuesday

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Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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1 Comment
F
FC 92 days ago

Why doesn't Borthwick just ASK Rassie over for a week to come fix English rugby and stop all this beating about the bush?

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fl 2 hours ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"

I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.

But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.


Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.


"I'm afraid to say"

Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!

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