Felix Jones quits Borthwick’s ‘unsettled’ England set-up

Felix Jones, the man credited with revolutionising England’s defence, has resigned from his position as assistant coach, leaving a gaping hole in Steve Borthwick’s coaching team a month out from the beginning of the new rugby season.
Sources close to Jones say that the Irishman became unhappy with an unstable working environment, even though Borthwick recently upgraded him from defence specialist to second in command. Jones, who is one of the hottest coaching properties in international rugby and was part of the coaching team that won the World Cup with South Africa in 2019 and 2023, informed Borthwick of his departure a week ago.
Jones’s defection raises questions about Borthwick’s management style and his ability to maintain a happy working camp. Also this month it was announced that Aled Walters, the highly rated head of strength and conditioning, was leaving England to take up a role with Ireland under Andy Farrell. There is also uncertainty about the continued involvement of Kevin Sinfield, who has had various roles in the set-up. Tom Tombleson, another strength and conditioning coach who had been in post since 2014, has also left in recent weeks.
Walters, along with Jones, was part of South Africa’s backroom team at the 2019 World Cup and had worked under Borthwick at Leicester Tigers before joining him with England. The defection of Walters and the uncertainty over Sinfield’s role is understood to have played a part in Jones’s decision to leave.
There will be much speculation about the next move for Jones, who is bound to be in high demand. The Sunday Times understands that Jones has a 12-month notice period, but it is thought to be highly unlikely that he will be held to it.
The 37-year-old’s coaching career began at Munster after a serious neck injury ended his playing days — as a full back, Jones won 13 Ireland caps between 2011 and 2015. Having worked at Munster under Rassie Erasmus, he subsequently took up the South African’s invitation to work with the Springboks, where he ran their attacking strategy before being recruited by England last year to take charge of defence.
Jones received a lot of credit for England’s improved Six Nations performance last season, when they finished in the top half of the table and achieved a notable victory over Ireland at Twickenham using a blitz defence system. And he was praised for his role in England’s near-miss in the first Test against New Zealand in Dunedin last month.
He is certain to be in the frame for a role with the British & Irish Lions, who tour Australia under Farrell next summer. David Humphreys, Ireland’s newly appointed performance director, will surely seek to find a role for him in the Irish set-up too. The attractions of the system are obvious to national coaches as the centralised contracting system gives Farrell full control over his players.
Some rejigging of roles is already planned after Ireland’s November Tests, when Farrell will go on his Lions sabbatical, with Simon Easterby deputising as head coach for the Six Nations.
Even before last season’s Six Nations, Borthwick was gushing in his praise for his new defence coach. “I have seen people who have worked very hard. This guy? I don’t know whether he sleeps,” he said.
“He has the knowledge, the understanding of areas of the game. We were sat the other day looking at some stuff on his laptop, where he was picking apart an area of the game and showing things that I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other coach discuss.
“So I think he has an incredible work ethic and that knowledge is groundbreaking. When he presented to the players last week, the room had that deathly silence. [They were] hardly blinking, transfixed by what he was saying. That ability to do that is superb. So work ethic, incredible knowledge and grasp of concepts and he has the players’ attention.”
Neither Jones nor the RFU commented on the story.