RFU CEO Bill Sweeney says there have been no talks with Ireland coach Andy Farrell “at present”.
His comments come amid speculation that Farrell could be drafted into the England set-up after next year’s World Cup in Australia.
Sweeney has indicated current England coach Steve Borthwick will be given a July trio of matches in the new Nations Championship to oversee an upturn in the team’s fortunes following a woeful Six Nations where the Red Rose brigade finished fifth following four straight defeats.
Should Borthwick deliver sufficiently good results against the world champion Springboks, Fiji and Argentina he will likely see out his contract which expires after the World Cup.
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Farrell’s deal with Ireland also runs out after the World Cup but the ex-England international expects to hold fresh talks with the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Nevertheless, Farrell – head coach for the British and Irish Lions’ victorious tour of Australia last year – would be among the leading candidates to succeed Borthwick should the England job become vacant.
“He’s under contract to the 2027 World Cup,” Sweeney said of Farrell during a media briefing. “We’re not in a dialogue. We’re not in a discussion with him at the present.”
Although the RFU has yet to conclude its review of the Six Nations campaign, Sweeney is minded to stick with Borthwick in spite of England’s disappointing Six Nations which yielded just one win as they finished fifth.
After seeing off Wales in the opener to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games, they collapsed in dramatic fashion, losing the next four, including a first-ever defeat by Italy.
A stirring display, however, in an agonising 48-46 loss in the final match in Paris against eventual champions France may have bought Borthwick some time.
“There is a lot of noise out there,” Sweeney said. “You’ve got to take emotion out of the equation. You just look at it purely in terms of: What was the performance? What were the issues? Why did they arise? And how do we fix them?
“It’s about getting back to the way we were playing. Steve talks about playing big. That has been the intention and you saw that against France.
“We still think this is an extremely strong squad that has got the potential and capability to do some really good things.”
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– AFP
Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
The post English rugby chief addresses Farrell links appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
RFU CEO Bill Sweeney says there have been no talks with Ireland coach Andy Farrell “at present”.
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