Eddie Jones should be succeeded as England coach by the Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, according to one of his disciples, Alex Sanderson, who faces his old boss this Friday.
In 2010 Sanderson, now director of rugby at Sale Sharks, was a young coach at Sarries alongside McCall, Andy Farrell and Paul Gustard, with Steve Borthwick the captain under Brendan Venter’s leadership. Farrell now coaches Ireland, Gustard Benetton in Italy and Borthwick has led Leicester Tigers to the top of the Gallagher Premiership having left the England assistant coach job in 2020.
With England looking for Jones’s replacement after the 2023 World Cup, Sanderson believes McCall should be the prime candidate. “He’s just a bona fide legend,” Sanderson said of McCall, who won 13 caps for Ireland in the 1990s. “He’s got to be one of the most underrated coaches. How has he not picked up international honours in his tenure at Sarries when he’s won everything multiple times over?
“He would never seem himself worthy enough or good enough to coach at that level. Maybe he doesn’t want to be in the spotlight as much as he would be.
“I suspect he does love Saracens an enormous amount, I did and still do. For something to come along it has to be huge to break those bonds and friendships you’ve made. There’s only a couple of jobs in the land isn’t there?
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“This one [Sale] for me was bigger, but for him there’s only probably international and the Lions that could interfere.
“Smally [McCall] is ready for it now. He’s got my vote. He’d be great for it, if Ireland don’t want him, or maybe they could do a swapsies between Andy Farrell and Smally.
“They’re both really good coaches. Any international team would be lucky to have them.”
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney has stated the union want an English coach next, who they can embed before the French World Cup.
“It’s really encouraging, it’s great for the country,” Sanderson said on that stance, before dampening his chances of coaching England, while endorsing Borthwick’s.
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“You’ve already got an advantage over any other coach if you are English [coaching England] – you can pluck on those heart strings and use that as motivation. That authenticity of what it is to be English, you can’t fabricate that if it does mean a lot to you.
“There are a lot of good English coaches now, more than there has been for a while. Gorgeous George [Skivington] down at Gloucester and not-so-gorgeous-Steve at Leicester, to name but a couple.
“I don’t think I’m anywhere near ready yet. I haven’t proved myself, I have still a way to go and work to do here for years. Is it something I’d be interested in? Of course. Every coach with ambition wants to coach at the highest level.
“I would say he was the fore-runner right now, Steve, given his track record this year.
“He’d be brilliant. I’m sure he’s got work to do at Leicester, but he’s ambitious isn’t he? Where’s the ceiling for Steve Borthwick? He hasn’t reached it yet.
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“You never had a bad session out of Steve. As a captain he was never tired, never cold, never complained. You see that in his team – an intensity, a work-ethic, a relentlessness that surpasses most teams.”
Sale, who should have Manu Tuilagi back fit, play Saracens in the Gallagher Premiership on Friday night and Sanderson is wary of Owen Farrell’s impact. Farrell could have been sent off on his comeback from ankle surgery last weekend for a high hit against Bristol Bears, but was not carded.
Asked about Farrell’s tackle technique, as his former defence coach, Sanderson said: “He’s a good defender because he wants to melt people. Sometimes that over-enthusiasm means he hits a little bit high or he’s not as in control of his feet as he should be. But you would rather have it that way than the other. I know it’s important that everyone lowers their body height, but you run down his channel at your peril.
“No doubt England missed him [in the Six Nations]. You would have got better performances by some of the better players if he had been around.”
• Premiership rugby has asked an independent body – Sport Resolutions UK – to review the circumstances by which Worcester Warriors cancelled their league match against Gloucester last Friday.
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Worcester did not have enough front-rowers to fill a team, due to injuries, illnesses and Covid-19 cases, but Gloucester were incensed at the late call and counted six-figure losses having been unable to stage a home match at Kingsholm.
Worcester’s Steve Diamond defended his club, saying they suggested a replay, or a game with uncontested scrums, but both were rejected. “It will come out in the wash that we did our best medically. We tried every avenue,” he said.
The Times understands that Gloucester believe they can recoup their match-day revenue losses, and take league points, via this independent panel.