Wales v England: John Terry gives pep talk to Eddie Jones' team
Last updated on .From the section English Rugby
Six Nations: Wales v England |
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Venue: Principality Stadium, Cardiff Date: Saturday, 23 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
Coverage: Live on BBC One, S4C, BBC Radio 5 live, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru & BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app, plus live text commentary. |
England's rugby players have been given a pep talk by former footballer John Terry before the crunch Six Nations clash with Wales in Cardiff.
The ex-England captain spent the morning at the Bagshot training base, exchanging ideas on issues such as leadership and motivation with both players and coaches.
"The players were really engaged by talking to him," forwards coach Steve Borthwick told BBC Sport.
"He gave some great messages."
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Borthwick, who also confirmed lock Maro Itoje would miss the game in Cardiff with his knee problem, said the England camp had been able to relate to Terry's experience as a player and a coach.
"He spoke about the traits in the highly successful teams he has been a part of, which are consistent with the type of thing we talk about: the competitiveness, the drive in training, players taking responsibility," Borthwick added.
"Those are the themes we discussed and that is what we want to drive here."
Borthwick said Terry, who is a coach at Championship side Aston Villa, had emphasised the importance of a strong leadership core in successful sporting teams, with England boss Eddie Jones often stressing the need for his side to develop in this area.
"We spoke about the leadership density, and he spoke about the strength of that within the teams he has been part of," Borthwick said.
"All the successful teams have had a great group of leaders; that is something we are well aware of and continue to try and develop."
Winger Joe Cokanasiga, who made a try-scoring comeback for Bath on Saturday after two months out with a knee injury, is in contention to face Wales after coach Eddie Jones cut his 33-man squad to 25 players.
Jones will finalise his starting XV and replacements on Thursday morning.
England squad
Forwards: Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), T Curry (Sale Sharks), Ewels (Bath Rugby), Genge (Leicester Tigers), George (Saracens), Hughes (Wasps), Kruis (Saracens), Launchbury (Wasps), Lawes (Northampton Saints), Moon (Exeter Chiefs), Shields (Wasps), Sinckler (Harlequins), B Vunipola (Saracens), Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Wilson (Newcastle Falcons).
Backs: Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby), Daly (Wasps), Farrell (Saracens, captain), Ford (Leicester Tigers), May (Leicester Tigers), Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Robson (Wasps), Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Te'o (Worcester Warriors), Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
Released: Brown (Harlequins), Cole (Leicester Tigers), Devoto (Exeter Chiefs), Earl (Saracens), Ewels (Bath Rugby), Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Singleton (Worcester Warriors), Thorley (Gloucester Rugby).
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1. If the disabled parking space is available, use it.
2. To non-playing members: always have your kit ready to pop on for the trophy presentation.
3. Whilst the lads are on the pitch, see if any WAGS are up for a quickie.
To be fair though, the one place you can pretty much guarantee England always have cover is up front.
Wales are yet to fire (but very easily could against England) and would deserve the win against a rampant England just as much as England deserving to go to Wales' back yard and get a win (comprehensive or not)
I hope it is a great game on Saturday but think England will be too strong for Wales even taking into account it is the best Welsh side ever and we are at home.
I am half English and on the edge of turning my back on Wales due to the stupidity of some of the fans.
Looking forward to a good game whatever the result is in the end.
Come on wales.
If we lose its on him.
6 minutes ago
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With all respect, I think you're confusing the stupidity of some of the posters on here with the attitude of Welsh supporters in general, who are usually realistic.
Clearly he’s not being rushed back - as I’ve said before on these forums the coaches and medics know what they are doing
Who cares? He won nothing, not even close, with England, and he conducted himself throughout his career with zero class and a great deal of gutter behaviour. He is also barely literate, and his ability to express his (limited) views to educated men will be laughable.
Massive faux pas from the RFU