By Mitch Phillips
LONDON (Reuters) -England coach Steve Borthwick said on Wednesday that the recent merry-go-round of coaching assistants would not disrupt his preparations for the November internationals and pointed to a core of consistency among his trusted deputies.
The last few months have seen a dizzying series of changes, including the surprise departure of defence coach Alex Jones after eight months in the job, quickly followed by that of strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters, who has yet to be replaced.
Joe El-Abd has come in for Jones, who continues to work as an analyst, Kevin Sinfield has taken a part-time overseeing role and Richard Wigglesworth has been promoted to be effectively Borthwick’s number two.
Asked if the changes had impacted his preparation for the November games against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan, Borthwick said: “I think there is a whole lot of consistency with Wiggy, (scrum coach) Tom Harrison, Kev and Straws (assistant Andrew Strawbridge).
“Clearly there’s a change there with Felix deciding he didn’t want to work with the England team going forward but Joe is a coach I’ve known and respected for a long time. He has a pretty good understanding of how we operate.”
Jones was tasked with switching England to the blitz defence that he helped run so successfully with South Africa and El-Abd appears to be continuing that approach.
“I see that as being pretty seamless in terms of the way we operate,” Borthwick said. “We have a defence that has fast line speed, we get off the line and put the opposition under pressure and that’s what Joe believes in also. He’s coached that very successfully and understands it.”
INJURED HALFBACKS
Borthwick was speaking at Twickenham after announcing a 36-man squad for the Autumn series that did not include injured halfbacks Alex Mitchell and George Ford.
Scrumhalf Mitchell has not played all season due to a neck injury and is unlikely to take any part in the series, but flyhalf Ford is expected to join the squad when he recovers from a thigh strain.
In the absence of Mitchell, scrumhalves Harry Randall, Ben Spencer and Jack van Poortvliet were included.
Henry Slade, who has yet to play for Exeter this season after undergoing shoulder surgery, was also included, along with fellow centre Alex Lozowski, who won the last of his five caps six years ago.
England narrowly lost both tests in New Zealand this year and meet them again in the first match on Nov. 2 – only their third appearance at Twickenham in their last 16 games.
The squad, made up of 20 forwards and 16 backs, will head to Girona, Spain next week to begin preparations.
Forwards
Fin Baxter (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Ollie Chessum (Leicester Tigers, 23 caps)
Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers, 115 caps)
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks, 41 caps)
Chandler Cunningham-South (Harlequins, 7 caps)
Ben Curry (Sale Sharks, 5 caps)
Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, 53 caps)
Theo Dan (Saracens, 14 caps)
Trevor Davison (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins, 17 caps)
Ben Earl (Saracens, 33 caps)
Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby, 31 caps)
Ellis Genge (Bristol Bears, 62 caps)
Jamie George (Saracens, 93 caps)
Nick Isiekwe (Saracens, 11 caps)
Maro Itoje (Saracens, 84 caps)
Joe Marler (Harlequins, 95 caps)
George Martin (Leicester Tigers, 15 caps)
Will Stuart (Bath Rugby, 41 caps)
Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby, 38 caps)
Backs
Elliot Daly (Saracens, 69 caps)
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs, 6 caps)
Tommy Freeman (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)
George Furbank (Northampton Saints, 11 caps)
Ollie Lawrence (Bath Rugby, 27 caps)
Alex Lozowski (Saracens, 5 caps)
Luke Northmore (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Harry Randall (Bristol Bears, 7 caps)
Tom Roebuck (Sale Sharks, 1 cap)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs, 65 caps)
Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints, 2 caps)
Fin Smith (Northampton Saints, 5 caps)
Marcus Smith (Harlequins, 35 caps)
Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby, 6 caps)
Freddie Steward (Leicester Tigers, 34 caps)
Jack van Poortvliet (Leicester Tigers, 14 caps)
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
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