Shaun Edwards has proven to the Red Roses he \u201cwants to be there and to make the players better\u201d rather than using the women\u2019s game as a stepping stone, according to the England wing Jess Breach.<\/p>\n
Edwards, a rugby league legend and hugely decorated defence coach in union, joined England on a consultancy basis this week and will be with the squad until the end of the WXV Global Series in October. The 59-year-old, who left the France men\u2019s team this summer, has been helping England prepare to take on New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday in front of almost 60,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think probably our biggest question around him coming into the programme was why?\u201d Breach, who starts on the wing against the Black Ferns, said. \u201cI think a lot of coaches come into women\u2019s teams to potentially bunny-hop and progress into male teams. Not that we don\u2019t like that, but we want people to be here because they want to be here and they want to make the programme better and they want us to be better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he does want that. He explained the story about his mum and I think it is important and it touched a lot of us, like you do want to be here and you do want to make us better.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the start of the week Marlie Packer disclosed that Edwards stood in front of the squad and told them one of the reasons he wanted to coach the Red Roses was that his mum, Phyllis, who died in 2021, did not have the opportunity to play rugby. He added it was something his mum thought was \u201cincredible\u201d and she \u201cwould have loved to have done it\u201d. Edwards also stated he wanted an insight into the women\u2019s game having never coached in women\u2019s rugby before.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s head coach, John Mitchell, said on Thursday that before Edwards came into camp he wanted to learn all the players\u2019 names and wanted to see success in the Red Roses\u2019 defensive system.<\/p>\n
Jess Breach said Shaun Edwards \u2018wanted to be here\u2019 and had demonstrated his commitment to the Red Roses. Photograph: Steve Bardens\/RFU\/The RFU Collection\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Mitchell said he was learning from Edwards, adding: \u201cI am dragging plenty out of him and I am sure he is stealing a few things as well, which is great. As coaches we always want to find something a little bit different that can grow the players or refreshes how you go about things. We are very, very fortunate to have a person of his ability.\u201d<\/p>\n
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