Rugby union has bid adieu to two significant figures in recent days. Today’s players may not be overly familiar with Kevin Bowring, the first professional head coach of Wales between 1995-98, or Ronnie Dawson, who led the British & Irish Lions to a famous win against the All Blacks in 1959 and later became Ireland’s first national coach, but both helped to change their sport for the better.
Dawson, among myriad other roles, was a member of the committee that organised the transformative first Rugby World Cup while Bowring was a brilliant mentor to many of modern rugby’s most thoughtful coaches and educators from Stuart Lancaster and Shaun Edwards to Ben Ryan and Toby Booth. Lancaster reckoned Bowring, the Neath‑born son of a carpenter, had few peers – “I really think the world has lost one of the great coaching minds” – and Ryan felt likewise: “[He] pushed my thinking upstream, when as a young coach I only ever swam downstream.”
Another of his grateful proteges, Russell Earnshaw, put it even more lyrically. “If coaching is about your coaching tree, Kevin planted forests. If it’s about the ripples you create he threw boulders in the lake. If it’s about the footprint you leave he took a million steps.” As the warmth of the tributes imply, Bowring’s great gift was to open minds to previously unimagined possibilities and lift young coaches’ eyes up to the hills.
Which is perhaps even more important in the professional era. The pressure for results can be all-consuming and not everything can be easily micromanaged. As the England men’s head coach, Steve Borthwick, has been finding. He must have flown home from New Zealand in July thinking he had weathered the worst of a turbulent year. Within weeks he had parted company with two key lieutenants, Aled Walters and Felix Jones, who had done more than most to establish an upbeat mood within the camp.
The newly confirmed promotion of Richard Wigglesworth to an expanded assistant’s role is the latest twist to the tale, lending further intrigue to England’s autumn squad announcement on Wednesday. Because Borthwick is approaching a keynote phase of his stewardship. His side needs some fresh momentum having lost four of their past six Tests, albeit narrowly, and will be eyeing at least three victories from their four home November internationals. Which is about to intensify the focus on one of coaching’s trickiest skills: the art of selection.
Because even the smartest and most enlightened of coaches must first ensure the right people are in the room. Simply going with the orthodox flow is not enough. It has to do with balance, gut feel and clarity of vision, particularly at a time when England are spoilt for choice in some positions. Borthwick has been very clear that consistency of selection is pivotal to his thinking. Fair enough but so should be retaining an open mind and keeping one eye on the future.
Take his many options on the wings. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman are the men in possession and will almost certainly be retained for the visit of New Zealand on 2 November, with Ollie Sleightholme hard on their heels. But anyone who has watched the early rounds of the Gallagher Premiership will also have been impressed by Sale’s Tom Roebuck, Saracens’ Tobias Elliott, Gloucester’s Christian Wade and Ollie Thorley and Bristol’s Gabriel Ibitoye. Bath’s Joe Cokanasiga and Will Muir missed the national camp last week through injury and we have not yet mentioned Anthony Watson, Ollie Hassell-Collins or Adam Radwan, let alone the versatile Elliot Daly and Max Malins. The list goes on and on.
It is similarly crowded in the back row. If you saw Ted Hill, Jack Clement and Jack Kenningham playing at the weekend you would have assumed they must be near certainties for Borthwick’s squad. Maybe all of them will feature for England A against Australia A next month but there are at least 10 back-rowers above them in the pecking order in Ben Earl, Tom and Ben Curry, Ollie Chessum, Sam Underhill, Chandler Cunningham‑South, Ethan Roots, Tom Pearson, Tom Willis and Greg Fisilau. Add Bath’s up‑and‑coming Guy Pepper, the bullocking Alfie Barbeary, Harlequins’ turnover king Will Evans and Northampton’s U20 World Cup winner Henry Pollock and competition could hardly be fiercer even without the French-based Jack Willis, Sam Simmonds, Lewis Ludlam and Billy Vunipola.
So what to do? England first need to review the gameplan and combinations that offer the best chance of winning the next World Cup. Out wide, in addition to Feyi‑Waboso and Freeman on the wings, they probably need another footballer and a marksman. Step forward Roebuck, uncommonly good in the air, and the pacy Sleightholme who impressed none other than Beauden Barrett in the summer. All of that quartet are aged 24 or younger and, injury permitting, should be around for years.
It is also vital to appreciate the difference between club excellence and the heavy-duty demands of the Test arena, particularly in the back row. Is the hard-working Chessum, for example, better utilised at lock or flanker? If the latter it means relegating the ball‑carrying oomph of Cunningham‑South which, right now, would feel something of a backward step. For the start of the series, at least, I would retain the Auckland starting back row of Cunningham-South, Underhill and Earl with Chessum and Tom Curry storming off the bench.
In the absence of the injured Alex Mitchell and Henry Slade, recalling Harry Randall and Alex Lozowski would also, respectively, keep the tempo high and supply another midfield kicking option. On such fine judgment calls are coaching reputations forged. Because Borthwick, with all that talent lurking in the wings, cannot allow backroom upheaval to cramp England’s style. Now is the time to gaze up towards those hills and to think that bit bigger. The squad he picks ultimately matters less than its ability to capture the nation’s imagination.
