Steve Borthwick used his first words since being approached to take charge of England to thank Eddie Jones for all he has taught him.
The Leicester boss refused to discuss Jones’ old job ahead of Tigers’ Champions Cup opener on Sunday against Ospreys in Wales. He did admit to talking “regularly” to the Rugby Football Union and said he had been “very upfront with the players about anything and everything”.
But with his club locked in negotiation with the RFU over compensation for him and his coaching team, the Cumbrian would add only that he expected to still be coaching Leicester a week from now: “There’s always things that go on around a team,” said Borthwick. “Your job is to be focused on what you need to do.
“I always have targets, I always have areas I'm trying to grow in. I've always tried to ensure that, on this journey, I keep moving forward. “But right from day one I’ve talked about the only thing that matters is the week we’re in, to get the performance we want.”
Supporters exasperated by Jones’ fixation on the World Cup at the expense of all else will take heart from Borthwick’s rule of not peering over the horizon. He undoubtedly lacks the soundbites of the Australian, the ability to paint pictures with words and all-too often write his own headlines.
But there is much he has taken from Jones and on Friday night made plain his gratitude to the man who paved his way into international coaching, first with Japan and then England: “There are a huge number of qualities I’ve taken from Eddie,” he said. “We would be here all day if I tried to talk you through all of them.
“I could talk about the work ethic and the desire to learn, how he never ceases to want to be better and improve the players and help them achieve their dreams. I could talk about all of those things. What I’ll talk about, which I don’t hear talked about very much, is the generosity of the guy whenever I’ve heard a coach ask a question.
“I’ve seen him help coaches from all around the world because we’re all trying to coach as well as we can to help this great game. He loves the game and he’s an incredible coach.”
England kick off their Six Nations campaign eight weeks today at home to Scotland, who have only failed to win the Calcutta Cup once since 2017. Given England’s awful autumn of just one win, against Japan, and the boos which sent them on their way a fortnight ago, RFU boss Bill Sweeney has no time to waste in getting the new management team sorted.
