Chip off the old block...

AT JUST 28, ED ROBINSON FOLLOWS DAD ANDY BY COACHING ENGLAND

I’M a designer at heart,’ says England’s newest coach Ed Robinson sitting in the clubhouse at Jersey Reds looking over the main pitch by the airport in St Peter, talking through his life away from rugby.

‘ Before coaching I studied ergonomics. I was doing everything, like designing microwaves for people with dementia so when you put the food in it just scans the packet, you don’t have to push any buttons; it just knows what to do.

‘It’s been a great foundation for my coaching. The designing process, how you come up with ideas translates to your coaching.

‘I also looked at how cars are built to relate to people and did a dissertation at Loughborough University on the thermal environment in stadia, and how humans react to them.

‘It was the relationship between the game, heart rate and temperature. Obviously when there are tries scored heart rates go up, and we react to it better.

‘But when the game gets a bit stale, people get pretty cold.’

If there had been supporters allowed at England’s Six Nations matches, Twickenham would have been mostly full of frozen fans.

After their fifth-placed finish in that tournament, Robinson’s next assignment is engineering something beautiful — or at least far more functional — from England’s attack, now Eddie Jones has brought Jersey’s coach back into the national squad for summer Tests against USA and Canada having first used him in February and March.

The son of the former England boss Andy who was Sir Clive Woodward’s No 2 at the 2003 World Cup, Ed Robinson is Jones’ latest project.

Aged just 28, he is younger than many of the normal senior squad but tipped for great things. His youth does not bother him, having packed plenty into his few years.

‘ If you’re ready, you’re ready,’ Robinson tells Sportsmail, a steeliness behind his quiet voice.

‘I was coaching five teams a week to earn enough money to pay rent — including Clifton College, Clifton RFC, Filton, Bristol University — in my early 20s. I coached teenagers, some internationals like Samoan Alfie To’oala who was in his 30s.

‘The game is the same, whether it’s 40 kids running round half a field with one floodlight or preparing the guys to play against France in the Six Nations.’

His one with Jones came from a chance meeting in the Channel Islands pre-Covid.

‘Eddie came to do a talk here, and we got to spend an hour with him,’ Robinson explains.

‘I picked his brain and from then we chatted on and off. When we went into lockdown we spoke every week on Zoom.

‘I went to see him in the Six Nations 2020 camp before the Wales Test for a day, too. In January I came in for a training day at Jersey and saw I had a message at 6.30am saying, “Call me”.

‘So that was it — I called him, flew the next day and was straight into England’s Six Nations camp.’

Robinson was the shock replacement for Jason Ryles, the Australian skills coach stuck at home due to Covid, and worked to improve Max Malins’ kicking, Anthony Watson and Jonny May’s high-ball catching technique and more during the Championship.

He also attended England training as a kid with his father, and watched Jonny Wilkinson’s World Cup-winning drop-goal in 2003 while fighting his brother in the Sydney stands.

So Robinson felt the pain of England’s recent struggles as much as anyone — but has learnt to deal with the critics after his father’s sacking by the RFU in 2006.

‘The results really stung,’ he adds. ‘When it comes to criticism I’ve been through that with Dad, seeing how he was treated. It’s water off a duck’s back really.

‘ But also, if the team is not performing that’s what should happen. Everyone should be frustrated when England don’t win.’