'The room was deathly silent' - England players blown away by Felix Jones

England head coach Steve Borthwick has lauded new defence coach Felix Jones, jokingly wondering whether or not the Irishman sleeps.

The 36-year-old former Munster winger started coaching the Springboks’ defence in 2019 but was also responsible for liaising with their European-based players. He left Rassie Erasmus’ Boks set-up following that side’s successful Rugby World Cup title defence in October and has hugely impressed both Borthwick and the wider England camp, having taken over the defence role from Kevin Sinfield, who’s been moved to skills.

Judging by Borthwick’s comments at the Guinness Six Nations launch in Dublin, Jones has made a strong impression in his short time in the set-up.

“He’s one of the most intense people I have ever met,” said Borthwick. “This guy, I don’t know whether he sleeps.”

“He has the knowledge. His understanding of the areas of the game: we were sat the other day looking at some stuff on his laptop, where he was picking apart an area of the game.

“Picking it apart, an area of contact. And showing things that I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other coach discuss. So I think he has an incredible work ethic and that knowledge is groundbreaking that he has.”

And it’s not only Borthwick who seems to be under Jones’ spell, with players said to very on the same page about their new coach.

“And when he presented to the players last week, the room was deathly silent. When a coach is presenting up front, I usually come down the sides just to be able to scan across the players. Hardly blinking, and transfixed by what he is saying. That ability to do that is superb. So work ethic, incredible knowledge and grasp of concepts and he has the players’ attention.”