Ahead of their crunch Guinness Six Nations Round 3 fixture against Wales on Saturday, the England camp have taken some sage advice from a sporting legend.
While he may not have experience packing down at the scrum or leaping for an up-and-under, John Terry knows a thing or two about international sport, with the former footballer having captained his country at three different major tournaments.
Terry, who also skippered his domestic side Chelsea to five Premier League crowns and a maiden Champions League title, made an appearance at England’s Bagshot base to offer his advice on coping under pressure at the highest level, something that forwards coach Steve Borthwick said certainly left a mark on his players.
“The players were really engaged by talking to him,” he told the BBC.
“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.
“Those are the themes we discussed and that is what we want to drive here.”
England sit atop the Guinness Six Nations ahead of their trip to Cardiff on Saturday afternoon, when the Championship’s two unbeaten sides face off.
And with Eddie Jones keen to impress the importance of leadership on his charges, there were few better than Terry to turn to.
“We spoke about the leadership density, and he spoke about the strength of that within the teams he has been part of,” Borthwick continued.
“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.”
