by Richard Wigglesworth is expected to be a surprise inclusion on Andy Farrell coaches staff for the British and Irish lions tour in Australia, benefiting from the solid finish of England at the Six Nations, includes the Guardian.
Wednesday, Farrell will unveil his coach ticket for the tour this summer and, although he should rely strongly on his assistants in Ireland, the senior coach of England Wigglesworth is about to be supported.
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Wigglesworth, who also takes care of the attack on England, saw its stock increase during the Six Nations, the Steve Barthwick team winning its last four games and marking 25 trials, including 10 in the final demolition of Wales in Cardiff.
The 41-year-old would be the first coach of England to tour with the Lions from Barthwick in 2017 and is well known to Farrell, who briefly trained him during their stay together with the Saracens as well as with England when Stuart Lancaster was chief coach.
After the victory of 68-14 against Wales nine days ago, Barthwick revealed that Farrell had approached him for having known any of his assistants, suggesting that he was likely to forget the entire staff of coaches in England. It is understood, however, that Farrell has since taken a step for Wigglesworth to join his staff in Australia and that he will go with the blessing of Barthwick.
This decision is an important step in the coach career of Wigglesworth. When Barthwick left Leicester to join England in December 2022, Wigglesworth took care of the Tigers for the rest of the season before joining his former boss during the 2023 World Cup accumulation. Initially, he was responsible for the attack and last October, after the shock resignations by Felix Jones and Aled Walters as a defense coach and Packaging respectively, Wigglesworth was promoted to senior coach.
He will be found with Walters, who has already been announced as part of the Lions behind the scenes with David Nucifora, who was appointed Managing Director. The Australian is employed by the Scottish Union as director of performance, a role he previously held with Ireland.
Simon Easterby, who acts as an acting trainer from Ireland since Farrell began his second Lions in December, is also in the context with Ireland’s scrum coach John Fogarty. The attack coach in Ireland, Andrew Goodman, and Scotland coach Steve Tandy was also linked to roles. It is understood that Johnny Sexton, who recently trained Ireland on an informal basis, will not be involved.
