{"id":321769,"date":"2026-03-10T03:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321769\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T03:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T03:53:08","slug":"john-mitchell-among-names-as-possible-replacement-for-england-coach-steve-borthwick-after-six-nations-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321769\/","title":{"rendered":"John Mitchell among names as possible replacement for England coach Steve Borthwick after Six Nations struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telegraph rugby writer Daniel Schofield reports Borthwick will remain the coach through the first round of Nations Championship at least with the next four tests determining his future. <\/p>\n

They open the Nations Championship against the Springboks at Ellis Park before a fortunate home game against Fiji in Liverpool, avoiding a trip to the Pacific, before facing the Pumas in Argentina.<\/p>\n

England do have a relatively easy group for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, pitted with Wales, Tonga and Zimbabwe in group F but could face Italy in the round of 16.<\/p>\n

Schofield threw a few names in the mix as possible replacements for Borthwick, including Mitchell who coached England\u2019s women\u2019s side to a Rugby World Cup title last year.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"England'sEngland’s Head Coach John Mitchell celebrates after the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup final. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cThe single best qualified candidate, Andy Farrell, is under contract until 2027 with the Irish Rugby Union and if he is the RFU\u2019s plan A then who fills the void for 12 months? <\/p>\n

\u201cA firefighter like Michael Cheika or Warren Gatland? They would inspire precious little fanfare,\u201d Schofield writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best domestic candidates would be the Northampton pair of Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty, but they would be a long-term project needing patience and planning, which are in precious short supply. <\/p>\n

\u201cWould Ronan O\u2019Gara or Franco Smith, who have previously had conversations with the RFU, fancy a short-term gig, even though they are positioned as the heir apparent with Ireland and Scotland respectively?<\/p>\n

\u201cOr they could turn in-house, to attack coach Lee Blackett or the Red Roses head coach John Mitchell, who ticks a lot of boxes. Nearly every option poses as many problems as solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, Mitchell signed a new contract to lead the Red Roses to the next Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup in 2029.<\/p>\n

England have won 25 matches in a row since Mitchell was appointed in 2023, also clinching two Six Nations Grand Slams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Telegraph rugby writer Daniel Schofield reports Borthwick will remain the coach through the first round of Nations Championship…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,3471,806,1558,8136,9520,173802,1320,1634,2082,2740,1224,5126,2225,5430,20494,21409,17154,111,139,69,11664,1523,17398,21411,163989,2853,6327,13744,4739,213,5132,3258,173801,2215,199,4767,102],"class_list":["post-321769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-among","tag-as","tag-been","tag-blacks","tag-borthwick","tag-chariot","tag-coach","tag-england","tag-for","tag-former","tag-italy","tag-john","tag-loss","tag-mitchell","tag-mounting","tag-names","tag-nations","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-option","tag-over","tag-possible","tag-pressure","tag-reins","tag-replacement","tag-rugby","tag-shock","tag-six","tag-sports","tag-steve","tag-struggles","tag-stumbling","tag-suggested","tag-take","tag-weekend","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}