No shock to see RFU consider a move for Cockerill
AFTER another fantastic weekend for Scottish rugby, there is always something that emerges to sour the mood. Unfortunately, success always comes at a price.
And so it was for Edinburgh, with the news that head coach Richard Cockerill is in the reckoning to be the next England head coach coming just a day after their impressive win over Newcastle Falcons.
Yet being name-checked as a possible successor to Eddie Jones, after the World Cup, shows how highly respected Cockerill remains south of the border.
After he was sacked by Leicester Tigers — something he feels was unjust to this day — he took temporary control at Toulon taking them to the final of the French Top14 play-offs where they lost to Clermont.
In his first season at Edinburgh, he took them into the Guinness Pro14 play-offs where they lost to Munster away in the last eight and also into the knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup where they lost at the same stage to Cardiff Blues.
This season, they are mid-table in Conference B of the Pro14 but sit proudly top of Pool 5 in the Heineken Champions Cup after three games.
Beating the Falcons in Europe at Murrayfield on Friday would only have increased his standing in England. Victory over them at Kingston Park in the second of the back-to-back European games next Sunday will take it even higher.
RFU director of rugby Nigel Melville brought up Cockerill’s name as a serious contender to replace Jones after the World Cup because he ticks so many boxes.
Melville favours an Englishman to take over and wants someone with a proven track record in coaching who also knows the English system well and again the Edinburgh head coach fits the bill.
‘Cockerill has done an amazing job in Edinburgh,’ he said in an interview over the weekend. ‘Did you think he’d do a really good job up there? I questioned whether he would, but actually he’s done a really good job.’
Cockerill is contracted until 2021 at Edinburgh but the time may be approaching when country test his loyalty to club.
Speaking on Thursday, before Melville had mentioned him by name, he admitted that he did not expect to even be in the running.
‘I am not sure that is a conversation the Union will be having with me any time soon,’ Cockerill told the BBC.
‘It is a really hard one. Guys have come out in the last few days and said they are probably not interested.
‘It is such a high-pressure job and it is almost sometimes a hiding to nothing.
‘When you are in a really good DOR (director of rugby) job at your club and enjoying it, I am not sure for some guys it is that tempting to leave the day-in, day-out work of club rugby, which is great fun.’
Sportsmail understands the SRU won’t stand in Cockerill’s way if his beloved England come calling.
From an Edinburgh point of view, let’s hope they don’t but he has such an impressive CV, it is no surprise the RFU are considering him.