Today’s rugby news as Shaun Edwards wants to return for Lions and Borthwick backs Gatland

According to the Sunday Times, the former Wales defense coach would “jump at the chance” to join the tour to Australia, despite not knowing whether France would allow him to do so at this point.

Edwards was on the 2009 South African tour, but was unexpectedly left at home by Warren Gatland in 2013 and 2017, with the Kiwi preferring new Lions head coach Farrell as his defensive guru. Next year’s tour will be Gatland’s first since 2009, and Edwards hopes to work with Farrell again after the two were rugby league teammates. According to reports, Edwards has a sense of unfinished business following his painful second Test and series loss to South Africa in 2009.

England coach Steve Borthwick has backed Warren Gatland’s proposal for rugby officials to limit the number of substitutions allowed in games.

Gatland recently proposed a trial with fewer replacements, even recommending that the game return to the days when substitutes were only allowed for injuries. He described South Africa’s usage of seven substitute forwards at the Rugby World Cup as “not what they were intended for”.

Borthwick agreed that it would be a method to generate more space, stating, “What we’re seeing now, the nature of the game is there’s less space, and if we’re going to create space, we need to have some level of fatigue in what we’re doing, and there are different areas you can tweak.”

“One thing you can change is the amount of replacements, which will affect the weariness in the game. The amount of room is then influenced by the level of exhaustion in the game. That is one way to look at it if you want to create some distance.

“As the players get fitter, putting eight replacements on the pitch means there is [less] space. Because players are fitter at Test level, the second half does not have the same space as it does in the Premiership.

Dragons coach Dai Flanagan feels Wales tighthead Leon Brown is “built for international rugby.”

Brown has failed to secure a spot in the Dragons’ starting lineup this season and has been troubled by injuries for several years. But Warren Gatland is a fan of the 27-year-old, and Flanagan believes he can be a valuable asset to Wales if he stays healthy.

“How far he wants to go is down to him – how far is he willing to go?” said Flanagan. “I have big expectations for him, but he has suffered some little setbacks since I came.