No shortage of Englishmen to succeed Eddie - Bowring
KEVIN Bowring, the RFU’s retiring head of professional coach development, is convinced England’s coaching pathway remains strong despite Stuart Lancaster’s World Cup failure.
Despite the subsequent appointment of Australian Eddie Jones, Bowring points to the success of homegrown coaches such as Exeter’s Rob Baxter, allied to the emergence of a plethora of young Premiership backs specialists. He is confident an Englishman will be ready to assume the top job when Jones steps down.
Bowring told The Rugby Paper: “What happened to Stuart was disappointing because he was doing a good job until the World Cup. It’s also sad that Andy Farrell went to Ireland and Mike Catt to Italy because we’ve lost that intellectual property.
“I’m not sure if any homegrown coaches were considered when Stuart left they will be in future because people like Rob Baxter, Jim Mallinder (Northampton) and Richard Cockerill (Leicester) are all very experienced Premiership coaches now.
“We went through a period where directors of rugby in the Premiership were in charge for an average of only 22 months, but now people are remaining in place longer and we’re building a good bank of experience.
“The kingmakers at the RFU make the decisions, but if you look at the guys I’ve mentioned, plus the young coaches making their mark in the Premiership, there’s a whole army of people coming through who could do a good job for England.”
Bowring explained: “Take backs coaches, for example, there’s Ali Hepher at Exeter, Mark Mapletoft at Quins, Kevin Sorrell at Saracens, Lee Blackett at Wasps, Alex King and Alan Dickens at Saints and many others.
“Six or seven years ago, all the coaches were forwards but now there’s a great crop of English backs coaches coming through. There are a lot of good guys who are pushing the boundaries and may one day be ready for the top England job.
“Eddie is heading it up currently, but Steve Borthwick, Neal Hatley and Paul Gustard are all England but qualified and proving their worth, while Ali Hepher, Andy Titterrell and Alan Dickens have just successfully coached the Saxons.”
Despite his optimism, however, Bowring believes an opportunity was missed by not incentivising Premiership clubs to develop even more England-qualified coaches within the new heads of agreement between the RFU and PRL.
He also believes clubs should do more to promote Championship coaches.
Bowring added: “I would have liked to have seen an English-qualified coaching scheme because some Premiership clubs still look towards big name ‘super coaches’ from abroad rather than look for the next Lee Blackett from the Championship.
“The Championship is a great breeding ground on limited resources, but in recent seasons only Lee and Glenn Delaney have been plucked from the second tier.
“The Premiership clubs don’t look for coaches there as much as they do players but the only thing some people need is an opportunity to show their talent.”