McCall urges clubs to approve Morrow's England job

Morrow was promoted from Saracens performance director to general manager across men's and women's rugby and the Mavericks netball team in January 2023

Premiership clubs will meet this week to discuss whether to block Saracens' general manager Phil Morrow from joining the England set-up.

England boss Steve Borthwick wants the highly-rated Morrow to head up his strength and conditioning department in place of the departed Aled Walters.

But with Morrow tied to Saracens on a long-term contract, his club say they will only let him join England in an unprecedented job-sharing capacity.

This has led to concerns among rival clubs of a conflict of interest, although Sarries boss Mark McCall hopes a compromise can be reached.

"There are talks going on and hopefully we can come to an arrangement that suits everybody," he told BBC 5 Live.

"I hope [the other clubs agree] because when you are talking about someone's integrity, everyone knows what Phil is like.

"He has been massive and absolutely crucial to everything we have achieved. Hopefully he stays for a bit longer.

"I can understand why he is in demand because he is outstanding in his field. Hopefully small-mindedness doesn't get in the way of a good decision."

As part of the recent Professional Game Agreement, Morrow would have a key role in overseeing the individual development programmes of England leading players, as the Rugby Football Union seeks more effective collaboration with the Premiership clubs.

This means he could have a perceived competitive advantage over rival clubs when on Saracens duty, an issue that will be discussed in the coming days.

Borthwick has spent the past few months trying to rebuild his backroom staff after the resignations of Walters and defence coach Felix Jones.

Joe El-Abd was confirmed as defence coach last week, although he will be job-sharing with current club Oyonnax until next summer, while Jones is serving his notice period working remotely.

Meanwhile long-serving fitness coach Tom Tombleson has also left the set-up, with Dan Tobin from Gloucester coming in.