John Westerby in Saturday’s 1st November issue of The Times has written an excellent article “How Lancashire became English coaching hotbed.”
If you can get hold of a copy it’s worth it. We’ll quote a small section:
“Whenever England’s players sit down to be briefed by their coaches at Twickenham this autumn, the dominant strains in the changing room are likely to carry a distinctive Lancastrian accent. The addition of Lee Blackett to the management means that England’s three senior coaches — Steve Borthwick, the head coach, Richard Wigglesworth, his assistant, now primarily entrusted with defence, and Blackett, the attack coach — all hail from the same corner of Lancashire, stretching from Preston to Blackpool, that has proved particularly fertile territory for England over the years.
Throw in the fact that Kevin Sinfield, the skills coach, is another Lancastrian and that Byron McGuigan, who is working with the back three and coaching the contact area, is still playing rugby for Rossendale near Blackburn and the weight of the Red Rose influence in England’s coaching staff is clear.
Borthwick, although born in Carlisle, grew up in Preston, and played his early rugby for Preston Grasshoppers before going on to maintain the area’s rich tradition of producing rugged England locks, following the likes of Wade Dooley, another Grasshopper, and Bill Beaumont, who played all his rugby at Fylde.
Wigglesworth and Blackett both started out at Fylde and attended rival local private schools — Wigglesworth at Kirkham Grammar, Blackett at King Edward VII in Lytham. “It’s a real hotbed of rugby talent around here,” Mark Nelson, the director of rugby at Fylde, said. “All those lads have come through Lancashire’s juniors and they were given a good early grounding in the game at their schools and clubs. It’s great to see them all having such success as coaches now.” He added “What we’ve benefited from more than anything in this area is some top quality rugby teachers.”