Category: England Rugby

• Fears Sale No 10 will miss entire Autumn Nations Series
• Scrum-half Alex Mitchell another worry for Borthwick

George Ford faces missing out on England’s entire autumn campaign due to the injury he sustained on Sale duty last weekend.

Sale are still waiting on results of a scan to discover the full extent of the fly-half’s layoff, but there are fears that Ford could be out of action for somewhere between six and eight weeks with a torn quad muscle. With England beginning the Autumn Nations Series against the All Blacks on 2 November, it would be a blow for the 31-year-old, who missed the summer tour of Japan and New Zealand to have surgery on a troublesome achilles tendon, having started each of England’s five matches during the Six Nations.

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• Joe El-Abd to combine duties with club role this season
• Felix Jones will be allowed to join Lions coaching staff

Felix Jones would be allowed by the Rugby Football Union to join the British & Irish Lions coaching staff next summer despite being instructed to continue working his notice remotely after Joe El-Abd’s appointment as England’s defence coach.

The RFU has confirmed El-Abd will take over from Jones for the autumn internationals but will continue in his role as head coach of Oyonnax in France’s second tier until the end of the season.

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• RFU close to agreeing terms for Oyonnax head coach
• Ed-Abd will begin role for November Tests if deal signed

Steve Borthwick is expected to appoint Joe El-Abd as England’s new defence coach following Felix Jones’s shock resignation amid a summer of upheaval.

El-Abd is employed as the head coach at Oyonnax but has been offered the job by Borthwick and it is understood the Rugby Football Union is close to agreeing terms for his appointment. It is hoped the 44-year-old will be in position for England’s November Tests if his early release from the Pro D2 side can be agreed.

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Wing who has won a Premiership title and his first England caps gets away from the pressures of elite rugby by fishing

With a little more than three minutes left on the clock and England trailing by seven points in Auckland, the ball is tossed wide to Ollie Sleightholme. He advances towards half way, ball in both hands, before the briefest of shimmies and a burst down the left that leaves Sevu Reece floundering like the proverbial kipper. Hook, line and sinker.

Ultimately England could not avoid a second defeat by the All Blacks but Sleightholme’s cameo stood out as one of the brightest moments of the series, as someone taking their chance on a tour of missed opportunities. And it turns out Reece is not the first to take the bait because Sleightholme – who capped a stunning season with his first two England caps in New Zealand this summer – is an avid angler.

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• Post vacant after shock resignation of Jones
• Laker, Gustard and El-Abd all in contention

Steve Borthwick is closing in on a new defence coach as he moves to restore order to his ranks following the shock resignation of Felix Jones.

The South African coach Norman Laker is believed to be in the frame while Paul Gustard has also emerged as a candidate along with Joe El-Abd as Borthwick seeks to bolster his staff following a summer of upheaval. The former England No 8 Nick Easter has also been linked with the role, but it is understood that ­Borthwick’s appointment is expected to be one of the aforementioned three candidates.

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Having battled back from a career-threatening injury, the Sale and England flanker reflects on a newfound maturity

Tom Curry walks into the boardroom at Sale’s training ground with a spring in his step. He sits down to give chapter and verse on his brush with retirement, the debilitating hip injury that required six-hour surgery and his gruelling recovery with an openness you would not always associate with one of rugby’s most intense operators. He soon speaks of the five stages of grief and, after 45 minutes in his company, it is clear that Curry has reached acceptance.

To recap, Curry was feeling discomfort in his hip towards the back end of England’s World Cup campaign last year. It did not take long after returning to Sale to discover that “something wasn’t right” and the subsequent scan delivered a prognosis that floored him. “I had a Zoom with the surgeon and he said you are probably going to retire,” says Curry, still just 26.

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The days of clubs recruiting A-list overseas stars are gone but domestic game needs growth and a wider audience

RFU, PRL, PGP, PRB, IDP, TNT, CVC, RPA – drowning in alphabet soup yet? Welcome to English rugby’s new frontier, where it seems there is no problem too big that an acronym cannot solve. Given the addition of a few more over the summer, maybe it is not complete coincidence that Premiership directors of rugby were recently given a lesson in language.

It is said they were all called into a meeting room and encouraged to be more strident in their public views for the coming season. To embrace and celebrate the gladiatorial nature of the sport, rather than shy away from it. In short, to sex things up a bit.

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