Tommy Borthwick had a splendid career with Aspatria and Cumbria rugby union before moving into coaching.
After starting at Aspatria he moved to Tynedale and is currently preparing for another season in charge of Alnwick. I took five minutes to catch up with him this week.
Tom, just tell me about your earliest memories of playing rugby, where did you start and is it in the family?
Initially it was football that was my main interest, probably because my dad played and had a brief spell at Workington Reds in the early 50s.
So, in my early years it was the regular village kickabout and every other Saturday on the bus and through to Workington to watch the Reds when they were in the Football League.
My first involvement in rugby came when I went to Workington Technical School under the guidance of head of PE Graham Moffat, who was a county player himself at the time.
This continued at Moorclose Secondary after the closure of the tech and it was here that my enthusiasm and participation in rugby increased to regular school fixtures and representing the County Schools at U15 level.
My enjoyment for football still continued to the extent that on a Saturday it would be rugby for the school in the morning, football for Coronation Boys Club U16 in the afternoon and rugby league for Aspatria Hornets U17 on the Sunday afternoon.
You played for many years at Aspatria, what were the highlights of that playing career with the Black Reds?
One of the first highlights in my early playing career for the Black Reds was our U21 County Cup win in the 1972-73 season. The majority of this squad formed the nucleus of the success in the years ahead.
Our first Cumbria Cup in 1977 was a fantastic occasion. It was the first time in 40 years that the club had actually won this. Every cup win was always a tremendous time, and, in those days, it was the stepping stone to be entered in the National cup competition.
Season 1979-80 was memorable because we managed to go through the season unbeaten, a fantastic effort by all the players involved.
Obviously, the stand-out would probably have to be our National John Player Cup game against Wasps in the 1987-88 season. What an occasion, what an atmosphere, over 3,000 spectators at Bower Park and a Wasps team that included seven internationals who had played against France the Saturday before.
Even though we eventually lost 6 -13 the loudest roar came when George Doggart scored in the corner. This would be my final season as captain and we finished it by getting promoted from North 2 and winning the cup again.
You also played for Cumbria, what were the standout moments from County Championship rugby and over the years who were the outstanding players you shared a dressing room with?
County rugby in those days were like the early stages of England trials especially in the North of England, where quite a few of those players were already in the England squad.
So, my early memories were one of excitement but also apprehension having to face current internationals especially in the Lancashire and Yorkshire teams. The main characters and influential players in our team were David Robinson (Robo) who captained the side and Peter Dixon (England and British Lions).
Both were playing at the time for the very successful Gosforth team and Robo especially became an inspiration for the younger players coming through.
In the later stages two players who came into the team and made an early impact were George Doggart and the late John Butler. Both of these would certainly be comfortable in today’s professional set ups.
Were you always going to be a coach when you finished playing – and how did it start, with Aspatria?
My first introduction to a basic coaching role came when I returned to Aspatria after being away for three years at a PE teacher training college.
In my first year back, I was invited to take over the captaincy and as we didn’t have a recognised coach in those days, I began introducing some of the organisational and structural aspects that I had experienced playing at college.
This continued until Dave Robley arrived and took over the role and I continued to assist him over the many years that we were fortunate to have some success.
It was a natural progression that when Dave decided to move on that I took over. I had already started attending various coaching courses and eventually over a period of time I managed to attain my Level 4 coaching award.
You were part of the coaching team for Cumbria’s triumph at Twickenham in 1997. What were the memories of that game?
Fortunately for that final we had a few weeks to prepare for the game both on and off the field.
The first priority from the coaching perspective was to keep the players focussed and not to get overconfident especially after the tremendous result in the semi-final down in Cornwall in front of 10,000 partisan Cornish supporters. Most of the players will probably admit that they enjoyed that occasion as much as the final itself.
As a group of coaches, myself, the late Peter Kremer and Jim Miller we were very fortunate to have such a talented but more importantly close-knit group of players who gelled brilliantly on and off the field.
As for the game itself one of the early memories was an injury to Sean Cusack who had to be replaced but fortunately this didn’t affect the cohesion of the performance.
As the game went on, I always felt we were in control but never really took a decisive lead on the scoreboard until late in the game. The celebrations went on late into the night and the following day on the journey home. A fantastic experience and a big boost for Cumbria rugby.
A special mention I feel is appropriate to the late Jackie Moffat who sadly passed away recently. Jackie was our kit man at the time, a tremendous character who was respected and loved by the players. Nothing was any trouble to him and was key to the smooth running and organisation during the whole competition.
What do you feel about the current County Championship. Is it right in today’s game or could be better organised?
The County Championship in today’s rugby calendar perhaps doesn’t carry the same esteem as it did years ago.
However, I still feel it is a crucial development tool for players in the community game. Firstly, it challenges the players to come out of their comfort zone playing in the same environment of their local club side.
Secondly , they quickly have to adapt to different ideas/structures which the coaches may put to them. Thirdly it gives them the exciting prospect if successful of playing at Twickenham.
Currently the actual structure that is in place is favourable in that it is quite a level playing for ability/standard for the players participating.
Your first coaching appointment outside Cumbria was with Tynedale. How did that come about and how do you recall the experience?
My involvement with Tynedale came about because after my many, very enjoyable years at Aspatria as player and coach I had perhaps arrived at my “sell by date”.
So, after standing down as coach I had initially no intention at the time of wanting to carry on in any coaching capacity, a complete break was planned.
However, after a couple of months, completely out of the blue I was approached by Tynedale director of Rugby John Shotton (a tremendous character) about the opportunity to coach there.
Discussions with my wife Linda followed and after a family visit to the club I decided to accept the invitation. The club is a true community club with the majority of the players evolving through their successful Colts and these becoming the foundation of the 1st xv squad.
,In addition to this once we were successful in gaining promotion to National 1 we developed close contact with Newcastle Falcons and every season we had 4-6 academy players to strengthen our squad and give them their transition into senior rugby.
It was satisfying to see their development at this stage and later seeing the majority of them appearing in the Premiership.
Two players particularly come to mind and that was Rob Mille r(who started his rugby at Aspatria) and finished off his very successful playing career at Wasps and Chris Harris from Carlisle who now plays for Gloucester, Scotland and the British Lions.
Once in National 1 the standard was a step up both in the speed of the game and physicality. On top of this the travelling was very demanding, on some away trips it was an 8.15am meet at Newcastle train station travelling down to London area to play established clubs such as Roslyn Park, Blackheath, London Scottish and Richmond.
The longest was having to fly from Newcastle to play Jersey , who at the time were making their way through the leagues. So overall a great experience, very enjoyable on and off the field.
Challenging at times, especially trying to keep up with the improving standards each season in the league. However, my 10 years their probably confirms how much fulfilment I got from the opportunity.
More recently in the North East you’ve been coaching at Alnwick. What’s the set up like there and how has it gone so far?
Alnwick reminds me of the same qualities that I enjoyed at Tynedale, the nucleus of the squad has come through their well-structured and competitive junior and Colts set ups. There are even more farmers and the club itself is a thriving community hub for the town.
I actually joined the club during the ups and downs of the Covid period, so because of this we possibly had about 3 pre-seasons and I didn’t actually see them play a competitive game for about 18 months.
Over this period, I soon realised that not only had we got a talented group with potential but also one who had a tremendous work ethic. In that first competitive season after Covid we managed to finish a respectable 6th in the North Premier and win the Northumberland County Cup.
Last season on the back of some outstanding home performances we finished in 4th position.
What about the rugby union scene in Cumbria? How strong or weak is it at present and what would you like to see to encourage the sport’s progress?
I feel the rugby scene at present in Cumbria is quite stable, with the recent league re-structuring last season possibly helping some of the clubs in their development.
This was shown by the excellent season Penrith had in their promotion to level 5 and Upper Eden and Cockermouth joining Aspatria and Keswick in level 6. Also, the positive performances of the County Senior squad over the last couple of seasons shows the quality of the players that are in the area.
On a more encouraging note, I understand that last seasons County U17 squad had some really positive results in their County games.
Unfortunately, it is the actual overall participation numbers that is a concern both locally and nationally.
In my opinion it is some of the RFU’s decisions over recent years towards the grassroots and community game that has contributed to this.
Firstly, their decision to gradually remove the Youth Development Officers from Counties has had a big detrimental affect on this area.
In Cumbria for example we, at one stage, had a RDO for every district, now unfortunately we have none. They have also restricted the transition and pathway to senior rugby more difficult and I realise this is due to health and safety, however this age group cannot participate until they are 17 or in some cases 18.
This has had a negative affect especially in areas who are competing against rugby league because that transition can take place at the age of 16. As a result, those players who want to challenge themselves and feel physically confident for this opportunity understandably go to league, create friendship groups and stay there.
You come from a teaching background Tom. Is one of the problems the sport has the fact that there doesn’t seem to be as much rugby union in schools as there used to be?
Unfortunately there has been a decline in inter-school fixtures in all sports in recent years for various reasons. However, speaking to colleagues still in the profession the main reason for this recently has the been financial restraints put on the PE dept for transport.
One of the solutions they have introduced to try to overcome this is a move from regular competitive fixtures to festivals.
The other contributing factor as mentioned previously is the absence of the RDO for rugby union who did do a fantastic job in Primary and Secondary schools as well as in clubs.
Again, the rugby league appears to be one step ahead in this area and realise the importance of the support to staff particularly in the Primary schools to introduce the sport.
My wife who is involved working in sport in the Allerdale Primaries informs me that she receives schemes of work and lesson plans from the Rugby League, and she forwards these to the schools.
This is sometimes supported by Workington Town players going into the schools and assisting with the lessons.
