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Former England captain Chris Robshaw has backed the appointment of Steve Borthwick as head coach and says Owen Farrell is the right choice for captain.
Sam Warburton is surprised Warren Gatland and Eddie Jones will be going up against each other in new jobs at this year’s Rugby World Cup but believes both will make a big impact in their roles.
Gatland has returned as Wales head coach ahead of this year’s Six Nations following the departure Wayne Pivac while Jones is back for a second crack at leading his homeland of Australia after being axed as England boss.
Wales and the Wallabies are both in Pool C for this year’s global gathering in France, clashing in Lyon on September 24, and Warburton admits he did not expect Gatland and Jones to be facing each other. Nevertheless, the former Wales captain is backing both to excel.
“If you said to me before the autumn campaign, Warren Gatland and Eddie Jones are going to be coaching against each other – not at the teams they’re at now – at the World Cup I’d have asked ‘how is that going to work out?’,” Warburton told Sky Sports.
“Eddie and Warren are not club coaches, they’re international coaches who need to be operating at the highest level because that’s where they get their kick and that’s where they’re effective.
“I really commend Eddie for jumping straight back in at the deep end and he needs to be in an international environment.
“That’s where he thrives, that’s where he delivers – the same with Warren Gatland – and that’s the impression I get when in Warren’s company. It’s really exciting to see how those two pair up in 10 months’ time.”
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Wales coach Warren Gatland says he wants to provide opportunities for younger players ahead of the World Cup later in the year.
Gatland enjoyed a hugely successful 12-year spell as Wales head coach from 2007 to 2019, overseeing four Six Nations triumphs and three Grand Slams during that period, as well as finishing runners-up twice.
The New Zealander then returned home to take up a position with Super Rugby outfit Chiefs along with leading the British and Irish Lions on their 2021 tour of South Africa, but the door opened for his return after successor Pivac was sacked in December after a disappointing 2021 which included defeats to Italy and Georgia.
Warburton, who served on Pivac’s coaching staff between November 2019 and October 2020, believes the WRU made the right decision to part ways with the former Scarlets boss and bring back Gatland, whose first match will be the Six Nations opener at home to Ireland on February 4.
“Definitely the right call – everyone knew there had to be a change and that’s nothing against Wayne Pivac,” Warburton said.
Sam Warburton served on Wayne Pivac’s Wales coaching staff
“If you want someone to come in and make a fix for 10 months’ time, there is no one better. I think it [Gatland] was a good appointment and I’m even more excited now after seeing the squad announcement.
“There are some subtle changes in there which tell me a lot about how Wales want to play and I think that’s something we’ve missed, maybe we wouldn’t know what their identity was over the past couple of years.
“But with Warren, which we’ll find out pretty quickly, there will be a clear identity on how this team is going to play and that will be obvious for us all to see. It’s a great appointment and I’ve gone from being pretty pessimistic to being relatively optimistic for this campaign.”
Following the trip to Murrayfield to play Scotland, Wales then welcome England to the Principality Stadium on February 25, with Steve Borthwick at the helm of their old rivals after parting company with Jones.
Sam Warburton believes the WRU have made the right decision to reappoint Warren Gatland
Last year’s Six Nations saw England finish a distant third behind champions France and runners-up Ireland, while a difficult Autumn Nations Series campaign which included defeats to Argentina and South Africa eventually led to the RFU opting to dispense with Jones’ services.
Nevertheless, Warburton is expecting Borthwick’s arrival to be a spur for England to kick on in much the same way he sees Gatland doing with Wales and has backed them to be among the contenders in 2023.
“You always have this honeymoon period,” Warburton said. “When Warren came in first time, Wales won the Grand Slam and when Eddie came in England won the title.
“There is a new lease of life with players thinking ‘I have to impress this guy’. When you’re in that environment, you can develop really good relationships with coaches and it’s not that players become complacent, you have to prove yourself all over again.
Steve Borthwick has taken over as England head coach
“I think that’s what Borthwick will do with England, I think that’s what Gatland will do with Wales, and it will give everyone a new lease of life.
“It will not surprise me if England were a title contender by the last weekend. They’ve got a great player base, they’ve got a great coaching set-up now – England will be there or thereabouts.”
Robshaw not surprised by Jones’ Australia return
Chris Robshaw is unsurprised to see Jones back at the helm for Australia, even if he did not think it would happen quite as quickly as it has.
The 62-year-old previously coached the Wallabies from 2001 to 2005, guiding them to the 2003 World Cup final where they were beaten by England, and has been swiftly reappointed on a five-year contract after his England exit in place of Dave Rennie.
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New Australia head coach Eddie Jones believes he left England in a better position than when he took over, and says it would be ‘fun’ to face his former side at the World Cup.
Former England captain Robshaw, who featured under Jones early on in his reign after being appointed on the back of a shock group-stage World Cup exit in 2015, always expected this move to come and expects to see an immediate change in fortunes for Australia.
“With Eddie, the writing has always been on the wall that at some point he will go back to Australia and coach them – he’s a proud Australian man,” Robshaw told Sky Sports. “Of course, it has happened a little bit sooner than some of us had thought.
“With Eddie going back to Australia now, when they’re a little bit short of confidence themselves, no doubt he’ll have as an instant impact because – for me – Eddie has been a fantastic man manager.
“A lot of the game is about what happens in your head, your resilience and how to get the best out of people. Everyone’s as fit as each other, everyone’s as strong as each other, so it’s about how to work it out in your head.”
