Steve Borthwick’s former boss at Leicester Tigers has labelled the England head coach as a “tall Eddie Jones” and “not a people person” in an extraordinary attack.
Geordan Murphy worked briefly with Borthwick before leaving Leicester as Borthwick took charge of the club, eventually leading them to a Premiership title.
A club legend as a player, Murphy endured a difficult time as a coach at the club and appears not to have seen eye-to-eye with the now-England boss during his latter months at the club.
The ex-Ireland full-back has claimed that Borthwick made it clear that he did not wish to be Murphy’s friend on arrival at Welford Road, and believes he shares similarities with his former England mentor Jones.
Borthwick worked as an assistant under the combative Australian before taking the Leicester role and eventually succeeding him with the national team.
“If [England] do think of getting rid of Steve, then the questions have to be asked, and fingers pointed elsewhere as well because he effectively is a ‘Tall Eddie Jones’,” Murphy claimed, speaking to Prime Casino.
“That's what I'm hearing in camp, that his behaviour is very similar to Eddie. So why would you get rid of one bloke and replace him with an English clone?
“There's a lot of people who've been complicit in making that decision, so I think it looks bad for a lot of people. So, no I don't think you do get rid of him. I don't think they can get rid of him. I think they’ll stick with him. But that's good for everyone else!"
England players have insisted that the environment has improved dramatically since Borthwick’s arrival, though there was familiar coaching upheaval with the departures of strength and conditioning guru Aled Walters and defence coach Felix Jones.
Murphy was promoted to director of rugby at Leicester in July 2020 in a change that coincided with Borthwick’s arrival as head coach. The Irishman was removed from his role just months later ahead of the start of the 2020-21 season.
Murphy added: “I never played with Steve. I played against him. I played against him, played England-Ireland, played Leicester-Bath, Leicester-Saracens against him. I worked with him very briefly at Leicester during the pandemic. He can coach; I think he's a good coach - that's it.
“We are certainly not friends. That's all I know. When I briefly worked with Steve that was something that he made very apparent. He said to me, ‘I don’t want to be your friend’.
“That makes it very difficult when you're in a working environment and somebody comes to you and says that. He just cares about being a good coach. I only really saw him on the surface so I didn't really get to know him too well.
“He’s very single-minded, very focused on facts and figures. He’s certainly not a people person. That wouldn't be something that would ever be said about him.”
England take on France on Saturday at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham having lost seven of their last nine games.
