John Terry: Captain, leader… England Six Nations coach

Former Chelsea captain John Terry gave the England rugby squad a lesson in leadership when he visited training in the run-up to Saturday’s huge Six Nations clash in Wales.

Terry retired last year after a playing career of 78 England caps – 34 of them as captain – and five Premier League titles, five FA Cups and a Champions League with Chelsea.

He watched England in training before a question-and-answer session led by fly-half George Ford – who is a big Chelsea fan – and lunch with the players.

Core of players

“He [Terry] spoke a lot about [Frank] Lampard and the leadership group he had at Chelsea – a core group of players setting the standard,” said Jonny May, the free-scoring England wing, referring to the days of Terry, Lampard, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien among others.

May said the counterparts in the oval-ball squad include co-captains Owen Farrell and Dylan Hartley, Ford and Maro Itoje.

England head coach Eddie Jones has invited a succession of famous football figures to attend their camps, including Gareth Southgate, Stuart Pearce and Antonio Conte.

Terry, now assistant manager at Aston Villa, is developing his coaching career and he was at Stamford Bridge on Monday night to see his old side’s FA Cup defeat by Manchester United.

‘Leadership density’

England’s forwards coach Steve Borthwick said: “The things that were pertinent are consistent across successful teams: a group of leaders, the need for leadership density. The standards they set cannot just be coach- or manager-driven. It’s great to hear a new voice saying that. The players are obviously interested.”

Scrum-half Ben Youngs drew a comparison between Jones and Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho during his successful times. “He [Terry] said when he [Mourinho] came into Chelsea just how ahead of the curve he was, and that is pretty similar to Eddie,” Youngs said. “I feel our coaches are always looking to that one or two per cent of where the game is going and getting ahead of it. There is definitely a likeness in making sure they are constantly evolving.

“I look at our team as a whole and I think we’ve got such a good core, now, of leaders. We feel everyone is sharing that load really well.”

England Six Nations fixtures

Ireland vs England: 4.45pm (GMT) 2 February 2019, Aviva Stadium

England vs France: 3pm (GMT) 10 February 2019, Twickenham

Wales vs England: 4.45pm (GMT) 23 February 2019, Principality Stadium

England vs Italy: 4.45pm (GMT) 9 March 2019, Twickenham

England vs Scotland: 5pm (GMT) 16 March 2019, Twickenham

Pick up a copy of i for news, interviews and expert analysis from rugby correspondent Hugh Godwin throughout the Six Nations