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Five Nations Championships 2025: Loftus seeking increased competition from two-tournament approach
The more experienced team will stay at home to compete in the Five Nations Championships 2025 from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th January at the National Volleyball Centre in Kettering.
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Those that head to Luxembourg for the Novotel Cup – for a tournament running on exactly the same dates – will be a largely developmental squad with a few experienced campaigners mixed in.
Head Coach Loftus is delighted the Senior set-up is now at a stage where there is sufficient scope to field strong teams for both events and is looking forward to seeing more players get game time at international level.
That, he believes, will help the squad continue the rapid development it has undergone in recent times.
“In recent times we have been reflecting on where we have come since Covid, where the first competition we had after that we had eight players,” said Loftus.
“To get to the stage where we are at is, quite frankly, remarkable and I’m delighted that we now have strong competition for places, rather than the people who turn up getting caps.
“It’s not just the people who are in the squads – a lot of people who are good players missed out as well.
“In terms of the squad breakdowns, we have gone for a slightly stronger squad for the Five Nations, basically because a lot of guys in that squad have been travelling the world to play for the last two years and now they have the opportunity to play at home.
“It’s also a statement of intent that we are taking the Five Nations very seriously and we want to do well in it.
“The guys who are going to Novotel (which England won last year) are largely players who were on the bench in the Nordic Cup in the summer and in Luxembourg previously and other talented young players we want to take a look at.
“We want to see them starting to stake a claim moving forward, sooner rather than later, to be starting – we want the Senior players to be looking over their shoulders and pushing them.
“This is a good opportunity for them to do that and we are also able to look at U22 players who will potentially be involved in our squad for the U22 European Championships qualifiers next summer.”
Loftus will take charge of the Five Nations squad while Malory Eagles Coach Jefferson Williams will lead the Novotel squad into battle.
He says there is no-one else he would rather be overseeing those players travelling to Luxembourg given they had enjoyed a strong working relationship for many years.
Loftus said: “We are so blessed to have such a great staff supporting me with England – the trust I have in them is unbelievable - and none more so than Jeff.
“He was my mentor when I first came into the role and having him, who has more experience than me, lead the (Novotel) squad is fantastic. We have very similar philosophies too, so the messaging to the players is pretty consistent.
“We also have Phil Crawford involved, who brings a different perspective, challenging the players to think about their own performances and leadership.
“Then there are Elaine (Brown) and Sam (Shenton) and Binh (Hai-Binh Ly), who does the stats for us, who I’ve been working with and trying to help develop over the last year or so and give them international coaching experience... they’ve all been great to work with.”
The Five Nations Championships – staged with the support of the British Volleyball Federation – brings England together with Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland in a bid to help increase standards across the home nations.
Loftus insists Scotland, the country of his birth, will go in as favourites to finish as overall winners when considering their recent history in matches against the English.
“Every team goes into a tournament to win it, but, in recent times, our record against Scotland has not been good, which means they go in as the team to beat.
“We know we have made some good steps forward and we have got some really good players, so hopefully we can turn the tables on them.
“I know Northern Ireland are developing well and Andre, with Ireland, is working really hard to improve standards there too, so the level of competition is going to be strong and it is up to us to show we have moved on well from the Nordic Cup in the summer.”
Loftus believes the Five Nations Championships is a massive fillip in the bid to develop future talent across the British Isles.
While England is hosting the tournament in its inaugural year, it is set to be shared around the countries in future editions.
He said: “I think we have played one full international at home since I came into the post, so this is a big moment for a lot of players and we hope there will be plenty of people there to cheer us on.
“Volleyball England, Scottish Volleyball and the Irish federations have been doing a really good job promoting the sport to young players, but if those players don’t get to see the senior team playing, then they don’t know what they are aspiring to be.
“This is a fabulous opportunity to be able to do that with people able to come along and also watch on live stream and follow on social media.
“Our aspiration is to play some of the best teams in Europe and invite them over here to play – and this tournament is hopefully the first step towards that.”
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