England unfazed by former coaches in Bok camp
England insist the presence of former coaches Felix Jones and Joe Lewis in the Springbok set-up won’t give the world champions an unfair advantage ahead of the Nations Championship.
England gear up to face the Springboks and are hoping to use the showdown as a benchmark of its progress said assistant coach Kevin Sinfield.
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The England coaching staff will also be coming up against two of their former colleagues.
This is after Jones left the England setup in 2025 after spending one year, while Joe Lewis recently joined the Boks as an analyst.
That transfer of IP [intellectual property] is something that doesn’t bother the England camp.
“I know both Felix Jones and Joe Lewis well,” Sinfield said.
“I think it’s normal now for coaches and analysts and different staff members to switch Nations.
“They are both incredible guys, and I enjoyed working with both of them.
“I think Rassie also said there’s IP getting shared across as these staff members move, so it’s part of sport now; we just get on with it.”
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The two camps head into the tournaments with very different objectives.
Erasmus has made it clear that his team’s goal in the newly formed Nations Championship is to continue building squad depth while, most importantly, keep winning.
The three Test matches against England, Scotland and Wales will provide them with good preparation before the Greatest Rivalry Tour of New Zealand in August.
England, however, view the competition differently.
While competitiveness and winning remain key focuses, their priority is using the tournament to measure their progress after a disastrous Six Nations campaign.
After the Boks, England will face Fiji, and Argentina.
They seem to have hit the reset button and view the competition as an opportunity to assess where they are, according to assistant coach, Sinfield.
“Without being too cliché, we don’t want to look too far ahead,” Sinfield said when asked about England’s objectives for the tournament.
“It would be foolish to look beyond South Africa at this stage. They are a really good team, full of world-class players, and well coached.
“We want to put out our best foot forward this week and test ourselves against the World number one team when they are on their own patch.
“It’s a real test for us, a good test to see where we are at.”
Sinfield, who admitted that England have several key areas they need to work on starting this Saturday at Ellis Park, opted not to elaborate on the specifics.
Instead, he gave a surprising remark when asked for his opinion about the new competition, and how it benefits the players.
“It’s probably one of the answers I would like to give in three weeks,” he said.
“There’s some extensive travel involved with a lot of the nations, and to see how that plays out, and the effect it has on player welfare, and how we look after players and support them
will be very interesting.
“What I will say is that our guys are really looking forward to the challenge in the next three weeks.
“We’re coming up against three fantastic teams; we will try and embrace that. The guys have come into camp bouncing and looking forward to what’s ahead.”
