England have got an ‘amazing’ new coach, says George Skivington

George Skivington says England have secured a world class conditioning coach in Dan Tobin who is leaving Gloucester after eight years to join up with the national side next month.

Tobin, right, a former Irish sprinter, was recruited by England after two of their strength and conditioning staff, Aled Walters and Tom Tombleson, departed during the summer.

“Dan has been amazing here,” said Skivington, Gloucester’s director of rugby. “He is very quick to pick up on things, super intelligent and he is at the top of his game, which is why England poached him.

“I will miss him having become used to his ideas and bouncing stuff off him.

“He and I are very well aligned. When I wanted to develop the maul and needed a conditioning programme, he came up with loads of ideas.

“People in this game get opportunities and move on. England have gained a special character and they will be in very good hands with Dan. He is world class.”

Gloucester had to move quickly to replace Tobin and will make an announcement shortly. “We have someone exciting coming in and Dan has helped us in that, but I cannot say who yet,” said Skivington.

New Changes

The Premiership’s directors of rugby are still poring over the small print of the agreement with the Rugby Football Union, the Professional Game Partnership, which will run for the next eight years.

Among the changes are a reduction in the number of matches elite players are allowed to take part in, 30 rather than 35.

The number is measured in games rather than minutes which means a brief appearance off the bench counts as one.

With the Lions touring Australia at the end of the season, when Test players could make five appearances, the directors of rugby want clarification over whether the tour counts in the 30 for this season or the following one.

“All our players were under the 30 threshold anyway and we did not see it as a major issue,” said Alex Sanderson, Sale’s director of rugby.

“But when you look at the Lions tour and take Tom Curry as an example, if he plays in eight internationals for England and makes five Lions appearances, he could only play 17 games for us.

“That would mean we would need to be selective about the games he played in at the start of the season so he would be available at the backend of the campaign.

We have been sitting down with the players to map it all out. It has increased awareness of player welfare, which is a good thing, but it also has an impact on recruitment because you need cover for the players involved.

“I think it is inevitable that there will be isolated cases of players going over the threshold. When you take in the Lions tour, it may be that those instances will be managed retrospectively.”

Lions Permutations 

The Lions’ first match is against Argentina in Dublin on June 20 with the third Test against the Wallabies being played on August 2.

With England players having a 10-week off-season in the summer it would put those who appeared in the last match of the series out of action until the middle of October.

It would mean missing the first four rounds of the Premiership season so if clubs are forced to ration appearances in the current campaign because of the tour, they would also be hit after it.

It also raises the question of whether a player would be allowed to go on the Lions tour if he had reached the 30-game limit by the time the squad gathered.

It would make more sense to roll the tour over to the following season’s quota.

Positive Move

“The relationship with England is strong,” said Phil Dowson, Northampton’s director of rugby. “Communication is very good but the proof of the pudding will be seen in two years not two weeks.

“There are no huge issues so far, although the break week before the autumn internationals may have an impact. We know who will be available for the first six rounds more or less.”

Bristol’s director of rugby Pat Lam hailed the agreement as a significant step forward. England were not long back from New Zealand when head coach Steve Borthwick visited the Bears’ training ground.

“He was really open,” said Lam. “At the heart of all this are the players. We want them to be at their best for club and country. That comes down to transparency and relationships.

“When Steve and I were playing, it was club versus country.

“This agreement shows how far we have come because it is about getting the best out of players for the both of us. They are buzzing because they are now getting the same message from both camps.

“There will be challenges ahead when it comes to medical and conditioning.

“We will wait and see what happens, but to me it has to be about facts, not emotion. If a player has an injury, you do not take any risks. It will come down to communication.”

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