Kay: Fitness guru is key for England
STEVE Borthwick still has “an ace” up his sleeve in his determined bid to transform England into realistic World Cup contenders.
England fans may be fretting over the state of the team less than six months before the big kick off in France. But, according to former Test lock Ben Kay, the arrival of physical performance king Aled Walters will be a major boost to the chances of Owen Farrell and co lifting the Webb Ellis Cup.
Welsh-born Walters played a major role in turning South Africa into the best team on the planet in 2019 and dragging Leicester out of the Premiership gutter and raising them to champions.
England will be desperate for the guru with the golden touch to make as drastic and immediate an impact when he and Richard Wigglesworth reunite with former Leicester boss Borthwick for the crucial summer camp.
Walters, the ex-Munster coach, has plenty of work to do to knock into prime physical condition a team which endured that humiliating record home loss to France and again lost more Six Nations games than they won, finishing in fourth place in the table and lying seventh in the world rankings.
But Kay believes despite the latest Championship disappointment, there is still reason to be optimistic. “It was certainly better against Ireland in terms of performance,” said World Cup winner Kay. “Mind you, it could hardly get any worse – it was their worst performance for a long time against France.
“England are in a new era under Borthwick who has form with Leicester for being able to turn things around. Naturally, fans are very disappointed and facing the World Cup with a little trepidation. The summer training camp is going to be very, very important. And the ace Steve has up his sleeve is Aled Walters, below, the guy he had at Leicester. He’s a sort of right-hand man who is coming in to the coaching set-up at the end of the season to do that World Cup camp.
“He is the guy who plotted South Africa’s victory in 2019 in terms of their fitness and performance. He helped turn around a Springboks side which had had an awful run-up to the World Cup. I think they had lost seven out of eight games in major competitions – so we’ve seen just how effective he was with them. He is going to have a big role in whether England arrive at the World Cup able to compete on level terms with the likes of Ireland and France.”
Kay believes it is no surprise England are still struggling to find a higher level of performance and consistent results on the field: “It is very difficult to turn things around quickly in international rugby. The players have so little time together with the coaches. To build the mentality and strength of belief that Ireland and France have takes time.
“Has Borthwick done a good job? It’s difficult to tell yet but what
I know is there will be a change of mindset of the players and they will be able to see the new path they are on from what Eddie Jones was doing. Things had begun to wane in the players’ minds about what Jones was thinking.
“Their confidence would have taken a bit of a battering in that French game, but the response against Ireland will give them a glimmer of hope that they are heading in the right direction.
“Ireland are favourites for it but that doesn’t mean they will win it. There’s still a lot of time between now and the World Cup to keep things going. France are at home and they are Ireland’s biggest rivals to lift the trophy.”