England 2023/24

[Geordie]

El Abd is confirmed....

Joe El-Abd joins England men's team as defence coach from Autumn Nations Series

Joe El-Abd is the newest appointment to Steve Borthwicks backroom staff; He will join as a defence coach from the Autumn Nations Series; He will continue as director of rugby at Oyonnax until end of 2024/25 season

www.skysports.com

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Bloody hell, not even working full time until next season - still coaching Oyonnax and doing England on the side


Edit: Just seen Felix Jones is going to be working out his notice for England working as an analyst but remotely/not in camp

What a bloody mess

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

Held to ransom by a French D2 side.

Couple of bits of that press release would have made me really angry if they weren't so palpably nonsense.

We have a good group of players coming through who deserve better. Arundell's looking shrewder by the day.

 

[Geordie]

Bloody hell, not even working full time until next season - still coaching Oyonnax and doing England on the side


Edit: Just seen Felix Jones is going to be working out his notice for England working as an analyst but remotely/not in camp

What a bloody mess

Yeah its not an ideal situation is it.

But hearing reports from France the French seemingly rate him highly....both for winning the ***le with Castres as D coach and for performing miracles with Oyonnax a team whos budget is worse than the falcons! Maybe once Jones moves on and he comes in full time, we'll get a bit of solidity / consistency.

Only time shall tell.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Just for once can we hire coaches who are solid and who stick around and perform. No other side in the world manages to make such a monumental **** show of assistant coaches and contracts in general.

 

[Geordie]

Just for once can we hire coaches who are solid and who stick around and perform. No other side in the world manages to make such a monumental **** show of assistant coaches and contracts in general.

Maybe this is the start?

 

[Reiser99]

Maybe this is the start?

Dunno what you're on to be this optimistic, but I obviously need some of it too.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

a) It's fine we've got all SBs club coaches joining so it'll be nice and settled
b) It's fine we've got a world cup winning coach joining
c) It's fine he's got his old uni mate joining <-- We are here


I'm guessing this means Sinfield will be leaving camp? The reports before were that he hadn't signed the ludicrous deal he'd been offered because he wanted guarantees around his position rather than just being SB's motivational speaker

Is a bit concerning that that's the case with Sinfield, and also looks to be the reason Jones left

 

[Geordie]

Dunno what you're on to be this optimistic, but I obviously need some of it too.

Ah I'm generally a positive person unless it involves the falcons.

Honestly I have no idea what El Abd will offer...but he gets a very positive feedback from France so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

Whilst ive always backed SB, I do agree he needs to bring some consistency / stability in now...and coaches in the roles they actually want to be in, long term.

Only then will we really know if he's the right man....and the issues with Jones, Walters and Sinfield currently are raising more questions than answers.

 

[Saintjay]

I always thought the coaches issue was an EJ thing. He wasn't going to win boss of the year. Management style wasn't for everyone.

Now we are in the same situation with Borthwick. I can't help but feel it's a system and culture issue more at the RFU.

How many posts did we have on EJ not keeping a settled coaching team yet here we are again. I don't think Borthwick is a contributing factor as much as Eddie was but still....