Chelsea manager Antonio Conte visits England training as Eddie Jones taps into his coaching experience
Conte and his assistant manager, Steve Holland, attended England's training base ahead of the Six Nations clash with Italy this Sunday
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Your support makes all the difference.Eddie Jones continued his pursuit of tapping into the best coaching experience across the globe after inviting the Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, to England’s Surrey training base this week to observe their preparations for Sunday’s Six Nations clash with Italy.
Jones has already invited England manager Gareth Southgate to Pennyhill Park this month, and the manager of the current Premier League leaders joined the Australian and his coaching staff on Wednesday to see how his unbeaten side prepare for match day.
With Chelsea eight points clear of their nearest competitor and England currently on a 16-match winning streak, Conte and Jones were able to trade secrets on how to motivate a team that has suffered disappointments, such as Chelsea’s dire Premier League title defence in 2015/16 or England’s early exit at their own Rugby World Cup 16 months ago.
“For me it was very interesting to compare the different situations at work, the physical aspect and also to talk with the coach about the different situation there and analyse his aspect. It was very interesting,” Conte said.
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The Chelsea boss attended training along with assistant manager Steve Holland, who observed that they could learn plenty from the England rugby side as well as the other way around.
“Antonio is very open to other ideas and not just in our own sport, but in other sports as well and obviously the England rugby team are having a particularly successful spell and it’s always good to come and see why that might be,” Holland said. “I think it’s a vital part of a developing as a coach to speak with others and to take the best bits.”
The visit was particularly pleasing for Chelsea fan George Ford, with the fly-half developing his love of the Blues while watching Frank Lampard during his early teenage years.
“I used to live in London, I can’t remember how old I was now,” Ford said. “Year eight! I was in Year eight so however old that is, that’s when I started to get into football, but to be honest it was more of being a fan of Frank Lampard. I love watching him play and obviously he was at Chelsea and just ended up supporting them from then on really.
“You can obviously see why they are really successful at the minute. He’s obviously very experienced at what he does and also in meeting Steve Holland as well, so obviously it was great to chat to them and you see them on TV all the time at football matches and Sky Sports News and stuff like that, but to meet them and have a chat with them was great.”
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