Six Nations 2023: Richard Cockerill to leave England role, Richard Wigglesworth to join

Richard Cockerill was head coach at Edinburgh before joining England

Richard Cockerill will leave as England forwards coach after the Six Nations while Richard Wigglesworth and Aled Walters will join from Leicester at the end of the season.

Saracens forwards coach Ian Peel is expected to take over from Cockerill, who will join French club Montpellier.

Wigglesworth - interim head coach at Leicester - will be assistant to his former Tigers boss Steve Borthwick.

Strength and conditioning will be led by Walters heading into the World Cup.

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Cockerill was the only remaining assistant coach from Eddie Jones' reign after Borthwick succeeded the Australian as head coach in December.

The former England hooker joined the backroom staff in September 2021 and said it was "an honour" to have played for and coached his country.

Cockerill won 27 England caps and was briefly interim head coach following Jones' sacking.

Wigglesworth and Walters are the latest members of Borthwick's coaching set-up at Leicester - where he won the Premiership title in 2022 - to join him at England.

Borthwick took defence coach Kevin Sinfield with him as soon as he accepted the England job.

Harlequins' Nick Evans is serving as England's attack coach during the Six Nations and Wigglesworth may step in to fill that role when he joins.

Wigglesworth and Walters join for England rebuild

Richard Wigglesworth won three Champions Cup and seven Premiership titles in a 20-year playing career

After five wins from 12 Tests in 2022, Borthwick is attempting to rebuild the side before the World Cup that begins in France in September.

That process started with a narrow defeat by Scotland in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham on Saturday, after which Borthwick acknowledged failings in England's set-piece.

Former Newcastle forward Peel was previously head coach of England Under-20s, while Welsh-born Walters was part of the World Cup-winning South Africa set-up in 2019.

Wigglesworth earned 33 England caps and was Canada's defence and kicking coach at the 2019 World Cup.

Borthwick described Wigglesworth and Walters as "outstanding coaches", adding of the former scrum-half: "Few people have such an in-depth, wide-ranging view and understanding of the tactical element of the game."

Cockerill will be 'fully focussed' on Six Nations

Cockerill, who was previously head coach of French side Toulon and "always had aspirations to return" to work in the Top14, said: "This opportunity presented itself some time ago.

"It is disappointing not to work with Steve and the wider team beyond the Six Nations. I had hoped to be able to stay for the Rugby World Cup, but the timings weren't meant to be.

"I will continue to be fully focused on England and this Six Nations campaign, working with this group of players as they begin a new journey together.

"It's exciting to see what change has happened so far in such a short period of time."

Borthwick described Cockerill as "an excellent coach" and added: "It was a difficult decision for him to leave and he has our support."

Analysis - 'Little time to bed in'

BBC rugby union correspondent Chris Jones

Borthwick was always likely to lean on the Leicester coaching team that helped him win the Premiership in 2022 and, as Tigers fans feared may happen, he will soon have three key men from that set-up with him at Twickenham.

Wigglesworth's appointment as assistant coach indicates Nick Evans is set to return to Harlequins at the end of the Six Nations as planned, while Walters is extremely highly rated as a conditioning guru.

Cockerill is a popular figure with the players although England's forward play has been a mixed bag on his watch.

While the coaching upheaval is set to continue for a while yet, it is perhaps an inevitable consequence of the RFU making a regime change when they did, and it does mean Borthwick will have a full coaching team of his own in time for the Rugby World Cup.

However the new coaches will have very little time to bed in before the main event kicks off in France.

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