Saracen Peel set to sign for Borthwick

ON THE BLINDSIDE

Steve Borthwick is closing in on securing Ian Peel's services as England's scrum coach when Richard Cockerill departs after the Six Nations.

Borthwick made the Saracens man, below, his number one target when he took over from Eddie Jones in December and made his move when Cockerill accepted a job with Top 14 outfit Montpellier.

Former Newcastle prop Peel is a well-known face at Twickenham after working in the England U20 set-up that reached three successive Junior World Championships.

Peel moved to the Premiership leaders as forwards and set-piece coach in December 2015 and has played a key role in the success that Saracens have enjoyed under the leadership of Mark McCall.

McCall said in January: “Yeah, we have read the speculation. I am not surprised because he is a heck of a coach. He is a brilliant coach who is important to us.”

Borthwick wants his World Cup staff in place as quickly as possible to start planning their campaign in France with warm-up games against Wales and Fiji at Twickenham, and wants Peel on board at the end of the Premiership season.

The new-look England coaching ticket will include Richard Wigglesworth and Aled Walters, who will work for Leicester Tigers until the end of the season, before linking up with Borthwick in the summer.

McCall is understood to have started work on looking for Peel's replacement.