Borthwick regime nothing like 'dark' Jones era - Marler

Marler and Eddie Jones were reunited when England beat Japan, who Jones now leads, in Tokyo in June

England prop Joe Marler has defended the culture within head coach Steve Borthwick's set-up, saying it is "worlds apart" from the latter part of predecessor Eddie Jones' reign.

England have lost defence coach Felix Jones, along with strength and conditioning staff Aled Walters and Tom Tombleson, in recent weeks.

Jones' seven-year spell was marked by a high turnover of assistants and staff, with reports that the Australian's leadership style was partly to blame.

"The narrative that's being pushed is that Steve is an Eddie 2.0 and the environment is being repeated," Marler told the For The Love Of Rugby podcast.

“I don't think it's a fair reflection, because the environment is worlds apart from what Eddie's became towards that second half of his cycle, which was dark at times.

"I have a lot of respect for the Big Beev [Eddie Jones], but there were some parts of his environment that I questioned to him and questioned around him, and it's nothing like what Steve has created."

Jones hired 18 assistant coaches during his time in charge of England, including Borthwick who was forwards coach between 2016 and 2019.

Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney, like Marler, has rejected the comparison between Borthwick and Eddie Jones' regimes saying the exit of coaches this summer is "a completely different situation".

Felix Jones (left) and Walters worked together at Munster and South Africa before joining forces again with England

Ben Youngs played under both Eddie Jones and Borthwick before his international retirement at the end of the 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign. The scrum-half doubts whether England will be able to replace the outgoing and highly-rated trio with coaches of the same quality.

"In 2019 [after England finished as Rugby World Cup runners-up] the best coaches left and we couldn't replace them to the level of what we already had," he told the podcast.

"Now you have lost Aled, TT [Tombleson] and Felix, and can you replace them to the same level? I am not sure you can.

"You almost expect that [coaching changes] after a World Cup cycle. From the outside it is hard to rebuild halfway through."

Sweeney told BBC 5 Live earlier this week that appointing new assistant coaches "may take a bit of time" with the RFU "accelerating its thinking" on recruitment.

The first part of England's backroom rebuild is in place with the recruitment of Gloucester fitness coach Dan Tobin on Friday.