COACHES BID TO BE BEST

PRIDE OF SPORT

EDDIE JONES will battle it out with Claudio Ranieri and Danny Kerry for the Coach of the Year title, at the Daily Mirror’s annual Pride of Sport awards.

All three are in line for the prestigious title after enjoying remarkable years.

England’s Australian rugby union coach dragged the national team up by their bootlaces after the kicking they received at their home World Cup.

Under Jones (right, top), England won their first Six Nations Grand Slam since 2003, and handed Australia a first home whitewash since 1971.

Martin Offiah, a member of the Mirror’s Pride of Sport Awards in partnership with TSB judging panel, said: “What Eddie has done is never going to be done again. He has taken almost the same team from the 2015 World Cup and taken them through a Six Nations and a tour of Australia.”

Ranieri (right, middle) performed a similar miracle at Leicester City – turning the Foxes from also-rans into Premier League champions.

It was a modern football fairy tale that captured the imagination of the nation.

The genial Italian has now taken the Foxes to the brink of qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League.

“Kids will be told the story of what Leicester did in 50 and 100 years’ time,” said judge and ceremony host, Ben Shepherd. The same could be said of the Team GB women’s hockey side, who struck gold under Kerry (left, bottom) in Rio. Kerry’s side won the final on a penalty shootout, beating the heavilyfancied Dutch in Brazil, to put women’s hockey firmly on the map. It marked the crowning glory for a coach, who took over a side that had failed to qualify for the Olympics as recently as 2004. They will battle it out with Leicester and the England RU side for the Team of the Year award, at the Grosvenor Hotel ceremony, on December 7.