England coach target has ‘nothing on the table’ despite PREM boss’ ‘talk’ with Steve Borthwick
Byron McGuigan (front centre) is a reported target to join Steve Borthwick's coaching ticket at England
Sale Sharks director of rugby Alex Sanderson insists that, despite their interest, there is no concrete offer from England to take Byron McGuigan into their coaching staff.
Since taking the reins as defence coach in November last year, McGuigan has seen his reputation soar. Sale’s defence has had a dramatic transformation in his tenure, improving in almost every metric, while he is also a hugely popular figure within the coaching group.
As a result, he was seconded to join Steve Borthwick’s coaching staff for their tour of the Americas to work alongside Joe El-Abd, where he again earned high praise.
His work with the national side has clearly left a mark on the head coach, with reports across the British media suggesting Borthwick is looking to bring him in on a permanent basis as ‘edge defence’ coach, working alongside new defence coach Richard Wigglesworth.
‘There’s nothing on the table’
For now, though, it seems McGuigan will in fact be staying with the PREM outfit, with club DoR Sanderson detailing that England have not put an offer on the table just yet.
“I welcome every player and coach and support and encourage their pathway for who they want to be and achieve what they can in the sport, and it’s the same with Byron,” said the Sale boss. “He’s an international coach in the making. He’s going to get there, I’m sure of it.
“There’s always the question of timing and what’s best for us. We feel like we’ve helped him develop as a coach, and at this point in time, this is the best place for him, having only been in the top job (as defence coach) for a year and a half. That’s my advice to Byron, and it was what I said to England when he went on tour, as you can foresee what a successful tour can lead to.
England star facing surgery dilemma as Steve Borthwick sweats over Autumn Nations Series squad
England suffer latest injury blows as Prem coach confirms ‘specialist’ involvement
“As it stands right now, there’s nothing on the table and he’s very happy where he is. If that changes in the future, we’ll let you know, but at the moment we have one aim and that’s to win the PREM.
But, he did admit he had held conversations with Borthwick about McGuigan, both from an England point of view, but also for possible feedback to use with Sale.
“We’ve talked about Byron, what his future could look like, keeping him in the country and how well he did on tour. I want feedback on our players, our coaches and even our physios, like Navdeep Sandu (Sale Sharks physio) went on tour. We’ve also had two senior academy coaches approached by England as well (for England U20s).
“This happens when you create a good coaching set-up and you’re high-performance team is functioning, higher accolades come, but there’s nothing concrete on the table to take them to international level.
“I hope at some point he does coach England, because it’s what he wants ultimately, but it has to be the right opportunity at the right time. Not all that glitters is gold. We’ve seen people go to international set-ups, from here (Sale), and have a terrible time.”
