Eddie’s aides lining up for Six Nations

PAUL GUSTARD, a member of the high-calibre coaching team behind Saracens’ vice-like grip on affairs at Premiership level, will join the England setup well ahead of the forthcoming Six Nations Championship if business arrangements between club and country are concluded satisfactorily.

The architect of the domestic champions’ renowned “wolf pack” defence has been offered a role by the new England boss Eddie Jones and negotiations are in progress.

It is now clear that Jones, pictured above, the Australian “supercoach” head-hunted by the Rugby Football Union to succeed Stuart Lancaster in the top job, is cleaning the Twickenham stables with a vengeance.

The governing body is expected to confirm soon that Lancaster’s lieutenants – backs strategist Andy Farrell, forwards specialist Graham Rowntree and attacking skills expert Mike Catt – are yesterday’s men.

Steve Borthwick, the former national captain whose treatment by the England hierarchy at the end of his Test career was just about as crass as it was possible to imagine, is also Twickenham-bound, although the detail of his early release from secondtier Bristol, where he has made a significant impact in recent weeks, is not yet clear. The West Countrymen will want him to play an active, if intermittent, part in their promotion campaign before cutting ties for good.

After retiring from playing at the end of the 201314 season, Borthwick worked under Jones in Japan – a partnership that resulted in the Asian champions' remarkable display at the World Cup, where they won three of their four pool matches. He is expected to be the head man’s second in command, with Gustard bringing his hard-edged expertise to a variety of forward disciplines, as well as constructing the barricades. – The Independent