Borthwick is depending on his tried and trusted

JEFF PROBYN

A FRONT ROW VIEW OF THE GAME

SO it looks like Steve Borthwick will have his first choice captain available with the citing of Owen Farrell ending the way it should have with a ban, albeit shorter than expected. This wraps everything up rather conveniently ending just like Joe Marler‘s ban before the Six Nations.

I doubt Farrell will complain with only a four-week ban or three if he attends the World Rugby Coaching Intervention Programme which I am sure he will opt for as his ban will finish at the end of January.

Owen, like Joe, has a history of committing the offence he had been cited for and just doesn’t seem to learn and change his tackling style.

Unlike Marler, Farrell has previously walked away from a number of other tackle incidents without having to answer for them, having been given the benefit of the doubt because of his role as England captain.

He is unfortunate in the sense that his style of tackle is instinctive to him and how he has grown up playing the game. But with the increased player welfare concerns which now makes him the ‘elephant in the room’ with all the media looking to highlight any mistake he makes. Perhaps a longer punishment would have been better, encouraging him to change his ways.

Borthwick will be hoping that there aren’t too many players sidelined for whatever reason as he has only a limited time and playing group to prepare for the Six Nations with a weight of expectation after changing many of the coaching staff.

One thing that worries me is it seems he is making judgement on how players are currently doing at club level, rather than looking at what is needed at a higher level.

Much as Dan Cole, above, is still one of the best tight-heads at Premiership club level, I think he will be off the pace when it comes to the international game. After all, Dan lost his place in the England set up after failing to hold his own against opposition in a few games, notably against South Africa in the World cup but also in other international matches.

He is producing the goods weekly for his club but what Borthwick and anybody who has played at that level knows is that the international game is a completely different kettle of fish. However, it may be that Borthwick will pick a squad of players who he knows while he gets all the backroom staff he wants in place before making the necessary changes.

With the shake-up still ongoing creating uncertainty for all, the need for some familiarity and certainty is essential, particularly for Borthwick as he takes charge of England in what could be a make or break season.

In some ways it is hard on those who have been doing the job under Eddie Jones as to a certain extent it is impossible for us to know if they were doing a great job or not.

The latest to go is fitness coach Jon Clarke who, given that England reach the World Cup final last time out and the Lions won a series, seemed to be doing an okay job but he has been replaced by another Leicester assistant coach, Aled Walters.

I must admit I can’t see the need for an England fitness coach in the professional era, given that the players will be in fitness programmes at their place of work, ie the club they are paid to play for. Also, even though the RFU pay the clubs for extra access to players outside the international window to give England a better chance of winning, they are not really in camp long enough to make a difference to fitness.

I could understand it when I played as we were all working for a living while playing for England and therefore had to train on our own in our limited spare time.

Unlike now, training with the club only took place twice weekly after work, so it was fairly limited and not specific to positions.

However, all that changed after the first World Cup in ‘87 when the RFU got Rex Hazeldine of the University of Loughborough involved.

From the usual rugby training of a warm up jog round the pitch, a bit of semi opposed and then split for forwards and backs sessions to a full on ‘professional’ fitness regime; including sprint training, hurdling, plyometrics,- weights and even diet advice with body fat monitoring.

We were expected to do gym sessions at least four times a week and take time off work for training breaks and fitness testing.

I had grown up in the game by preparing for the matches by playing games rather than training. Through my late school years I would sometimes play as many as four matches a week with school, school county, club and club county games.

On a Saturday I would play two games one in the morning for the school at the council playing fields in Morden in Surrey, then I would get a lift to St Albans and play for Old Albanians in an adult game in the afternoon.

Club County rugby was played on a Sunday where I played for Hertfordshire, with school county rugby on a Wednesday where I played for Surrey.

When Rex took over England training he sat down with me and asked me what my training routine was. I told him just the twice a week in the evening with Wasps and a couple of runs after which my good friend Paul Rendall made me do by stealing my car keys and saying, “you’ve done the training for the club, now this is for England” then we would set off on a two-mile jog.

Rex said, can you go to a gym? to which I replied, “I get up at 6am and go to work. I have half an hour lunch break, finish work at 6.30pm cycle home from London to Waltham Forest, then go twice a week to Wasps and home on the other three days normally arriving home around 7.30pm where I have dinner with my family, help put the three kids to bed and finally sit down at around 9pm. When do I have time to go to the gym?”

Now, there are no excuses for players not being fit, as it is their job and they spend the time it takes to train, which begs the question, why should the RFU waste money on a fitness coach for the England squad?

Perhaps the RFU should use the money to employ a fitness coach for the game itself which currently certainly doesn’t look fit at all.