New England defence coach reveals why role was ‘difficult to refuse’

It says a lot about the unconventional path that Joe El-Abd has carved in the coaching world on his way to joining Steve Borthwick’s staff that a Brighton-born former flanker feels the need to apologise for the French phrases that slip naturally out of his vernacular.
El-Abd might have played more than 100 times for Bristol during his distinguished playing career, but it is across the Channel that the 44-year-old has truly flourished. In 2009, he took his life to Toulon in search of a new challenge and culture expecting to stay for only two or three seasons; 15 years, three clubs, two sons and a daughter later, El-Abd felt firmly entrenched within French rugby.
But that was until an opportunity came up that El-Abd could not refuse. When Borthwick lost defence coach Felix Jones to a shock resignation this summer, it is to an old mate he turned with an SOS. There was a vacancy to be filled, and Top 14 winner El-Abd was a highly-qualified, trusted candidate to fill it.
The only issues were his duties as director of rugby at ProD2 club Oyonnax. A compromise has been reached that will see El-Abd balance the two roles for the rest of the season before taking on England duties full-time — the route between Geneva Airport and Heathrow has gained a new frequent flyer.
“For this season until the end of the season, when there’s an England camp, I will be with England 100 per cent,” El-Abd explains after overseeing his first session at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. “When we’re not in camp, I’ll be back in with Oyonnax. Am I good at compartmentalising? We’re going to find out.
“As a player, you always wanted to play for your country. I never got the chance to do that, I wasn’t quite good enough. As a coach, there is nothing bigger or better than coaching your country.
“So when that opportunity arises, it doesn’t necessarily [arrive] two times in your lifetime. It’s not a case of saying yes straight away, because you’ve got to speak to the family, but obviously it was a difficult proposition to refuse.”
Jones’s departure came as a second blow of the summer for Borthwick, with the as-yet-unreplaced Aled Walters departing as head of strength and conditioning shortly before the Irishman. It is understandable, then, that he has turned to a close chum, El-Abd a former flatmate during their formative days at the University of Bath.
El-Abd is foggy on the exact length of their co-habitation, and has no wild anecdotes to share, reflecting a shared intensity of focus and drive to succeed. But their friendship has endured as each forged careers first as players and then as coaches, checking and challenging one another when required.
“We spoke to the players the other day about [our friendship]: 26 years,” El-Abd recalls. “That’s longer than most of the players have been on this planet.
“We have been rivals – Bath captain, Bristol captain. The relationship is strong, which I think is important, but that relationship allows us to be really open and honest. We just talked about what we need to do to get better and the desire to improve.
That allows us to be possibly even more harder on that area, to say: ‘Right, this is not working, we need to make sure we are getting better together’. I am very excited to be working with Steve, with the staff, but excited because I know that is going to help us grow individually, but also collectively as a team.”
El-Abd’s arrival comes in a year of defensive development for England. Under Jones, they embraced a high-risk, high-reward blitz system that seems likely to stay given the success it began to bring at the end of the Six Nations and on the summer tour to New Zealand.
Jones continues to provide analysis support as he serves his notice, and has met virtually with his successor to provide a handover of sorts. But El-Abd will also be encouraged to be his own man.
“We will take what is working and we will see where we can improve it,” he explains. “If you go into a business, if you go into anything, and you start from scratch, you are losing so much cohesion from the past. So what we are doing now is to say, ‘This is working guys, you are excellent in this area’ – and they have been excellent in certain areas – ‘however where is the next period of growth?’ We did it after the World Cup and now we need to keep going forward.
“Line speed is so important now, at any level, in the Premiership, in the Top 14. Last season, you could see that in international rugby, the level goes up even further. If you don’t have line speed, it’s very difficult to win collisions. We want to win collisions.
“We’re a team that loves getting off the line, and getting off the line is ‘blitz’. It’s not the terminology we use, but we want to put the ‘adversaire’, we want to put the opposition under pressure. That’s not going to change.
“This is the best defensive job you can have. I followed the team during the World Cup, where I thought we were outstanding. In the summer series we were disappointed not to get a victory but you could see signs we were moving in the right direction. To be part of that didn’t need a big sell from Steve. I’m just delighted he has shown the confidence for me to step into the role.”