The ‘life and death’ battle that England coach won in 2015 and what a ‘good day’ is now teaching players with just one eye
Andrew Strawbridge, the England assistant coach
England assistant coach Andrew Strawbridge has given a compelling insight into the sepsis that nearly killed him a decade ago, explaining what it is now like to work in rugby having lost an eye as a consequence of the attack.
The 61-year-old, who helped the Chiefs win several Super Rugby titles, now works with Steve Borthwick’s England on a full-time basis after initially joining as a consultant for the 2024 Six Nations. That recruitment took place after Strawbridge had helped the All Blacks reach the final of Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.
His remit with England sees him work across all areas of the game with a specific focus on the attacking contact area, and his involvement has coincided in a huge upswing in results as Borthwick’s squad head into next November’s Autumn Nations Series on the back of a Test match winning run of seven stretching back to round two of the 2025 Six Nations last February.
England are fortunate to have Strawbridge on board, as an illness that developed in 2015 in Samoa nearly killed him. It’s a near-death experience he has now shared with Rugby World magazine, and his survival makes for a riveting read.
“So many people haven’t survived that experience…”
“It was a while ago now, before the (2015) World Cup,” he began. “I was going over to Samoa. They were playing the All Blacks and I was going to start working with them. I got sick on the way over and that developed into sepsis, which became a life-threatening issue and knocked me around a fair bit.
“A graze on my eye allowed an opportunity for some bugs to get into my body that shouldn’t have been there. Coupled with the flight and the fact that I was on prednisone (a drug used to suppress the immune system) for something else, all these little magical moments aligned to lead to sepsis.
“Sepsis is an insidious thing. I sit here and it’s knocked me around a bit, but some people have been knocked around a lot worse and so many people haven’t survived that experience. So, man, it was pretty challenging.”
He never realised at the time how serious the illness was. “I was in a coma,” he explained. “I hopped off the flight, went to the hospital, was given oral antibiotics, which wasn’t enough. I was left in a hotel room for a while and went into a coma, in and out.
Nigel Owens: ‘Dangerous’ Dan Sheehan incident ‘should not have been missed’
“I was lucky there was a doctor in Samoa at the time from New Zealand who looked after me, or I wouldn’t be here. The ICU facilities in Samoa weren’t great, so nurses were holding bits of tubing onto the machine that was keeping me alive, standing there attending to me.
“I was lucky that people gave up their time. I know it’s their job, but I wouldn’t be here if that hadn’t happened… When you’re in that situation, life and death, it gets to the point where you roll the dice and throw everything into the mix. That was what happened with me.
“They just threw everything at me and that might have killed me, but this [sepsis] was going to. I don’t know why I’m here. Maybe because I’m a stubborn bastard, I don’t know. It’s not a conscious thing; you’re all over the place.
“There’s a thing called ICU psychosis where you have psychotic episodes, principally because of the drugs to keep you alive. I lived in that world for a little while, and it was scary. I know many people who have done that and it’s a frightening time. But I don’t want to dwell on that experience because it was unpleasant and not nice to hear.”
Strawbridge went on to describe his recovery, claiming it was a lottery that he beat the survival odds. “I don’t like talking about this because there are people who don’t survive and it’s a lottery. I might have been incredibly unlucky to get what I got, but I’m incredibly lucky to survive what I got.
“I was sent home in a pretty feeble state; I had no certainty about what was going to happen, and that was a bit scary. So you start making provisions for your family. I couldn’t get around much; I had tubes out of me for several months after and daily visits and drugs. But here I am. I can walk around mostly. I struggle to catch a ball because I have one eye. It’s what life’s about.”
Having just one functioning eye certainly hasn’t derailed his coaching career, judging by his success with the All Blacks and now England. “I remember being really scared about driving, but then I started to feel better. Then I had an argument with my wife and jumped in the car and drove off. It wasn’t until I was halfway down the street that I realised I was driving with one eye.
“At least I could survive like this. I know people survive with far greater challenges than that. But in a world where you’re dealing with skill acquisition and challenging players, a good day is when I don’t drop the ball or get through a session without hurting a finger or getting hit in the head by the ball.”