George Skivington: Gloucester boss to coach England A team

George Skivington has been head coach at Gloucester since 2020

Gloucester head coach George Skivington will take charge of the England men's A team for their first fixture in eight years when they play Portugal in February.

Northampton boss Sam Vesty will serve as attack coach, with Gloucester coach Dom Waldouck leading defence.

The match on Sunday, 25 February will be held at Leicester's Welford Road.

Skivington, who captained England A as a player, said it was "a massive honour" to be asked to lead the team.

"It's a good opportunity for me and Dom to step out of Gloucester, step into a different environment, challenge ourselves somewhere different," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"It's obviously a massive honour, but you always learn from any of these experiences.

"Getting into that England environment and having the opportunity even to coach a couple of different players and see how different people are doing things, and work with Sam - Northampton are doing some good stuff.

"There's lots of exciting bits for us to get stuck into, something to look forward to, but for now it's a long way down the line as far as I can see and we've got a really important couple of weeks ahead."

The fixture against Portugal marks the return of the England A team - formerly known as England Saxons - for their first game since 2016.

The squad will be made up largely of young and emerging players, with the aim of helping with their transition to senior international rugby.

"Each member of the coaching staff was picked with the consideration of their ability to develop young players and bringing international talent to the top of English rugby," said Conor O'Shea, RFU executive directory of performance rugby.

"This fixture, as well as the England men's A games to come, aims to elevate that platform and build a consistent pathway for young English players into the senior level of the game in this country."

No 'distraction' from Gloucester

Gloucester have lost their past nine Premiership matches, to set a new record for the worst run of results in their league history.

Skivington said the role with England would not be a "distraction at all" from his day job with the Cherry and Whites.

The club have an eight-week break from the Premiership after their home game against Sale Sharks on 28 January until their next match away to Leicester Tigers on 22 March.

Their only fixture between is the Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final against Exeter Chiefs on 17 February, with a potential final in mid-March on offer depending on the result.

"I'll be solely focused on Gloucester rugby and that week will give me an opportunity where to be honest with you I'd probably be out doing some CPD [continuing professional development] and visiting people and trying to better yourself anyway," Skivington said.

"From my point of view, I'll take a lot from it and no doubt learn a lot from getting into the camp."