England looking to reinforce current defensive framework under new coach El-Abd
England's improvements since last year's World Cup are something new defence coach El-Abd doesn't want to discard
©Photo by Adam Pretty - World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images
Joe El-Abd is keen for England not to lose the ‘cohesion from the past’ after taking over from Felix Jones as defence coach.
Following England’s summer tour to Japan and New Zealand, Steve Borthwick faced a crisis within his backroom coaching set-up.
The departures of well-renowned Head of Strength and Conditioning Aled Walters and Tom Tombleson - who had been with the men's senior side for 10 years - were followed by defence coach Jones handing in his resignation.
The news sent shockwaves throughout the game, most importantly because of the repercussions it would have on Borthwick.
There has been no official confirmation as to why Jones decided to leave his post but Borthwick turned to his former university flatmate El-Abd to fill the vacancy.
El-Abd will join up with England for the forthcoming Autumn Nations Series as well as next year’s Six Nations however, he will also continue at Pro D2 club Oyonnax until the conclusion of the 2024/25 season.
“Until the end of the season, when there’s an England camp, such as for these three days or for the autumn series, I will be with England 100 per cent,” El-Abd said.
“When we’re not in camp, I’ll be back in with Oyonnax. Am I good at compartmentalising? We’re going to find out. I’ve juggled enough things in my lifetime to know that it can work.”
He added: “We [England] will take what is working and we will see where we can improve it. If you go into a business, if you go into anything and you start from scratch you are losing so much cohesion from the past.
“Evolving is potentially a good word. I'm now looking forward to creating that stability going forward.”
El-Abd has known Borthwick for 26 years and admitted the England boss had spoken to the squad about their relationship.
He continued: “We spoke to the players the other day and we talked about that. Twenty-six years, so that’s longer than most of the players have been on this planet.
“The relationship is strong which I think is important, but that relationship allows us to be really open and honest.
“We just talked about what we need to do to get better and the desire to improve. That’s what I have seen. That allows us to be possibly even harder on that area, to say: ‘Right, this is not working. We need to make sure we are getting better together.”
It is understood that El-Abd’s predecessor Jones will see out his 12-month notice period by working remotely to deliver defensive analysis packages for the England squad.
When El-Abd was asked if he had spoken to Jones, he said: “Felix is still working with us at a distance so I had a real good chat with him. He was really, really helpful. We did it on video call.
“It was a bit multinational because we went France and Ireland, and I think we had a couple of connectors from England to talk about what's been going well.
“Our job is to see where we're going to go next so using Felix to see where we are at the moment and where he thinks we need to go, and obviously, then using my experience and seeing firsthand what's going on, that's going to give us a great starting point to move forward.”
After a strong finish to last year’s Six Nations and an encouraging summer against New Zealand - despite the 2-0 series loss - England looked in a comfortable position both on and off the field.
But the departures of backroom staff led to a period of turmoil meaning Borthwick will now be looking to steady the ship, something which El-Abd is on board with.
“In any coaching environment, you need people who are going to be loyal and committed,” he added.
“If we have a great coaching relationship, that can only help the players get better and that’s what we’re going to go and try and create.
“I think coaching stability is important. I think that helps. I think the coaching cohesion is even more important, you know, because then, if we're all on the same page, we can question each other hard.
“I’m just going to use Sir Alex Ferguson as an example. Alex Ferguson stayed for a long time, pretty successful. He didn’t always have the same coaches. It’s quite rare that they lasted for more than three or four years. But he stayed, and he knew he had the identity of Manchester United, and I think that’s the most important. So if we can create that cohesion together as a coaching group, I think that’s only positive to help the players get better, and that’s our job.”
One of the key questions on everyone’s lips is how are England now going to defend? Jones came in after the World Cup and introduced his brand of a ‘blitz’ defensive system that was clearly starting to pay dividends.
“So we're a team that loves getting off the line, and getting off the line is ‘blitz,” El-Abd said. “You call it whatever you want to do. It’s not the terminology we use. We want to put the opposition under pressure. That’s not going to change. The DNA of England rugby is being tough, getting off the line, being a tough forward unit. We’re going to take what’s been really good, and there’s been lots really good over the last couple of years, not just in the last eight games but over the last couple of years, and we're going to reinforce that.”
Adapting and evolving is what England will aim to do during the November Test window, especially with the cluster of significant names currently unavailable for selection.
The likes of George Ford, Alex Mitchell, Tom Curry and Henry Slade - who have a combined 202 caps between them - are absent from this camp, and the latter had been crucial at outside centre in England’s blitz-defensive system.
With his unfortunate injury, many believe the inclusion of Saracens’ Alex Lozowski was a like-for-like replacement but El-Abd may have hinted at his early thought process.
“The 13 is really important in any defensive system,” he explained. “In the last few games, Henry Slade has been really important in that area. Fraser Dingwall will be really important in that area.”
There is plenty for El-Abd to think about as England prepare to face the big southern hemisphere sides this autumn, and his defensive mind and coaching abilities will be truly put to the test.
