Rookie steps into England breach
➤ Jersey assistant Robinson appointed as Jones self-isolates ➤ Son of former head coach to help prepare Six Nations squad
Ed Robinson, a 27-year-old assistant coach from Jersey Reds, will help to lead the start of England’s Six Nations training camp after head coach Eddie Jones was forced to self-isolate.
England’s already disrupted preparations for the Six Nations were further upended when forwards coach Matt Proudfoot tested positive for Covid-19, with Jones and attack coach Simon Amor identified as contacts who must isolate until Jan 28. England’s training camp at St George’s Park begins on Jan 25 with the players arriving two days later.
In Jones’s absence, it will fall to defence coach John Mitchell and Robinson, who was appointed yesterday to replace absent skills coach Jason Ryles for the tournament, to lead the on-site preparations. Ryles decided to remain in Australia with his young family because of fears over the pandemic in the United Kingdom.
Even by Jones’s standards, Robinson, an assistant coach in the Championship, must rank as one of his most left-field selections. In Ryles’s temporary absence, Jones could have made an in-house appointment from the Rugby Football Union pathway, such as Alan Dickens or Jon Pendlebury, but instead turned to a coach who is younger than a significant number of the playing group.
The Daily Telegraph understands they met when Jones performed an after-dinner speech at Jersey last year. Since then the pair have remained in touch, with Jones contacting Robinson, the son of former England head coach Andy, to offer advice and act as a sounding board.
Robinson retired from rugby in 2013 after failing to recover from a “complex concussion” from which he still suffers symptoms. Since then
he has thrown himself into coaching, first at junior level with Clifton and Filton College and then as an assistant coach with Rotherham Titans and Jersey in English rugby’s second tier.
Robinson flew to England from Jersey yesterday and is understood to have passed a Covid test that will enable him to start alongside Mitchell at St George’s Park on Monday.
The RFU has tried to play down the impact of Jones’s absence, underlining that he will only miss one full day of contact with the players. Should Jones and his assistants return negative tests, they will be on site for the start of training.
However, his isolation will disrupt preparations for England’s opening match against Scotland on Feb 6 at Twickenham, with Jones forced to conduct meetings with his
backroom staff remotely. Proudfoot would not be allowed to rejoin the camp until Jan 29 at the earliest.
While Wales and Scotland yesterday announced squads of 36 and 35 players respectively, Jones is limited to naming a 28-man squad tomorrow after an agreement between the RFU and Premiership Rugby.
A Covid-19 outbreak at Bath spells further trouble, after the Premiership club shut their training ground and put all players into isolation. Should Anthony Watson, Sam Underhill or Will Stuart test positive or be identified as a close contact then they will not be able to join the squad until a week tomorrow.
If Bath cannot play their match against Bristol on Jan 29 then Bears tighthead prop Kyle Sinckler’s twomatch suspension for swearing at a referee will roll over to England’s game against Italy on Feb 13.