SARACENS WILL CLEAR THE WAY FOR ENGLAND

SARACENS will not block any attempt by Eddie Jones to poach any of their backroom staff for a new-look England coaching team. The Aviva Premiership champions are bracing themselves for Jones, who had two coaching stints at the north London club between 2007 and 2009, to contact defence coach Paul Gustard and forwards coach Alex Sanderson after working with them in their formative years as coaches. Stuart Lancaster’s successor has yet to meet with England’s current coaching team of Andy Farrell (defence), Graham Rowntree (forwards) and Mike Catt (attack), but the omens are ominous, with Bristol approached on Monday for line-out coach Steve Borthwick. Saracens lost Farrell to England in 2012. He initially turned down the RFU, but changed his mind. Now current director of rugby Mark McCall (below) will not block an approach to either Gustard or Sanderson. ‘Obviously our preference is that they stay,’ McCall said. ‘There’s been no approaches to the club for them at the moment. ‘If there was an approach I think we would want them, or one of them, to explore the opportunity properly because we want them to stay for the right reasons. ‘If you keep a coach here who would rather go, that would be an issue. It was a very difficult decision for Andy (to join England) three years ago. ‘Eventually he decided to go. That was the right thing to do because he followed his heart. If one of them was to decide it was best for them, then we would let them go.’ Farrell, who was a player at Saracens when Jones was in charge in 2006, is understood to have received criticism from England players in the review process, although some players chose not to take part because confidential information was leaked in 2011. Farrell’s probable departure from England could lead to the intriguing possibility of him returning to Allianz Park. ‘Andy is a good friend of all of ours,’ McCall said. ‘He’s an outstanding coach and a good person. But let’s cross that bridge when it comes to it.’