English rugby lost one of its greatest figures with the sad passing of Jack Rowell at the beginning of July.
His playing career blighted by injury, it was as a coach that he excelled, winning a string of league and cup titles with Bath between 1985 and 1994, at which point he became the England coach.
Interviewed by Alistair Hignell for Rugby World when he took on the job, Rowell said, “What I can offer is the way I think about the game. It’s more strategic, thinking about the way to go about things, thinking about where we want to be and how to get there.”
Rowell was England coach at a time of real flux for the game as it transitioned between its amateur days and the full-on professionalism we take for granted nowadays – Rowell himself was on the board of the multinational company Dalgety while at bath and as he took charge of England. He led England to fourth place in the 1995 World Cup before stepping down in 1997, ultimately returning to Bath as director of rugby in 2002.
As a regular columnist, interviewee and news maker, there’s plenty of opportunities to look at Rowell’s legacy and benefit from his insight through the pages of Rugby World, but you can start with Hignell’s interview here.
