Warren Gatland has revealed just how hard working Steve Borthwick is after he worked two jobs while on tour with the British and Irish Lions.
Borthwick and Gatland will soon become rivals after the former was announced as England’s new head coach while the latter has taken charge of Wales again.
They have worked together however, as Borthwick acted as the Lions forwards coach under Gatland on the tour of New Zealand back in 2017.
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, Gatland revealed that Eddie Jones got Borthwick to analyse England’s test matches against Argentina that summer while he was in New Zealand with the Lions.
Warren Gatland on Steve Borthwick.
“The amount of detail and analysis that was required on that tour if we were to have any chance of beating the All Blacks was incredible,” Gatland wrote.
“What has not been disclosed before is that during the tour, on top of his day job with us, Jones had also asked him to review Englandβs games on their tour of Argentina at the same time and provide feedback to him despite the 16-hour time difference.
“I remember thinking: βWow, I would never expect that from one of my coaches.β He ended up working night and day to get all the things that he had to do completed.
“It was really tough for him, and I felt for him. He ended up doing two jobs on a Lions tour.
“While it meant that we rarely saw him for a beer in the team hotel in the evenings, what struck me was the fact that he never uttered a word of complaint but just got on with it, night after night. It must have been a gruelling experience.”
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Weβre delighted our former captain and forwards coach Steve Borthwick has been appointed England menβs head coach from today.
Borthwick will be joined by Kevin Sinfield who has been appointed defence coach.
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β England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) December 19, 2022
A new rivalry will ignite.
Gatland and Borthwick will be on opposite sides come the Six Nations, in a tournament where both Wales and England will be hoping for significant improvement.
Wales will host England at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff in the third round of next year’s Six Nations on Saturday, February 25th, where Gatland and Borthwick will come up against each other as head coaches for the first time.
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