New England coach reveals his ‘biggest fear’ and explains why James Haskell comment has always stuck with him
Lee Blackett has become the new England attack coach and (inset) james Haskell of Wasps
Lee Blackett believes that five campaigns will be enough for him to have the England attack firing by the time they begin preparations for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
It was confirmed last Saturday that the ex-Wasps boss was leaving his role as assistant at Premiership title-winning Bath to become Steve Borthwick’s national team attack coach, an appointment that resulted in Richard Wigglesworth moving from attack to defence and Joe El-Abd from defence to the forwards.
Blackett worked with England on their summer tour of the Americas, filling in for Wigglesworth, who was elsewhere working as attack coach for the British and Irish Lions.
So impressed was Borthwick by what Blackett achieved on the trip, including a 2-0 series win in Argentina, he made it a priority to recruit the Bath assistant on a full-time basis even though he had only signed a club contract extension earlier this year to continue working with Johann van Graan for the foreseeable future.
“Do I think we have got enough time?”
Borthwick got his man, and Blackett was immediately wheeled out at this week’s England mini camp to say his piece with preparations now underway for the Autumn Nations Series that begins with a November 1 home game versus Australia.
Blackett has five fixture blocks to bed in his attack philosophy – November 2025 and 2026, Six Nations 2026 and 2027 and July 2026 – before England go into full World Cup mode.
Attack coach has been a revolving door position at England over the last decade – Blackett is said to be the 11th in the position in that time – so the pressing question when he met with reporters following his appointment was whether he had enough time available between now and Australia 2027 to be a success.
“It’s five campaigns. Do I think we have got enough time? Yes,” he insisted. “You are looking for each campaign to get better and better. Five campaigns is enough to see people, it’s enough to develop our game, definitely.
“The most important thing for me is I want to win, and my job is to put us in the best place to score points and score tries. Momentum is massive in sport, and especially at the start of campaigns and so we are talking about Australia (on November 1). If you’re thinking too far ahead, all of a sudden momentum can go.
“How many teams have you seen lose momentum at the start? You never get it back. And in international rugby, because you have got four games in the autumn and the Six Nations, you have to get off to a flying start. So Australia is massive.”
Blackett’s coaching career has enjoyed a remarkable flourish since the closure of the financially stricken Wasps in October 2022. Although he guided them to a 2019/20 Premiership final, it was difficult to kick on as their director of rugby given their lack of resources.
Offered the opportunity to fire up the Scarlets attack, Blackett impressed and was soon snapped up by Bath where he revelled in lighting up an attack that has Finn Russell as its conductor.
Now England have called, and Blackett hopes to quickly fit in and carry on his encouraging work from the summer tour. “A psychologist once told me that those environments which say ‘This is the way we do it’ don’t have a growth mindset.
“My biggest fear as a coach is becoming a dinosaur. If someone says, ‘He’s past it,’ that’s my big fear. So I’m constantly looking at the game, seeing where it’s going and seeing if I’m missing something,” he explained, going on to reference a comment made to him on a podcast that really struck a chord.
“James Haskell said: ‘You always gave us confidence.’ That is what I want to do. I want players running out confident, I want players running out there going, ‘If I see something, this coach backs me.’ I don’t want us to miss opportunities when they are there for us.
“I’ll be doing whatever I feel is best to win us the game. I’ll be looking at the opposition and where I feel we can get an advantage. If you think that’s funky… I just want something that works to win us the game.”
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The squad of 36 named by Borthwick for this week’s training included George Ford, Fin Smith and Marcus Smith as the three fly-halves, with no place for Owen Farrell despite his availability now that he is back at Saracens following a season in France with Racing 92.
What was Blackett’s view on the competition for this jersey?
“Any attack coach or head coach always wants one key thing: make sure you’ve got good 10s because they make such a big difference,” he said.
“We are really lucky because everyone on the outside is looking at our 10s and saying, ‘Look how many they have got and the quality they have got’.
“There are three in this squad, so a couple of them are going to be disappointed. But with the three of them competing, it’s going to make them better. They’re all going to have to be at their best.”
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