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Cockerill to leave England staff for Montpellier after Six Nations / Photo: © AFP/File
Cockerill to leave England staff for Montpellier after Six Nations
Richard Cockerill will leave England's backroom staff after the Six Nations, with Richard Wigglesworth and Aled Walters joining from Leicester, the Rugby Football Union said on Tuesday.
Cockerill, 52, will join French Top 14 club Montpellier as forwards coach.
Wigglesworth, the interim head coach at Leicester, will be assistant to England boss Steve Borthwick after working under him with the Tigers.
Walters will be in charge of strength and conditioning heading into the World Cup in France, which starts in September.
Former Leicester and Edinburgh boss Cockerill was the only member of Eddie Jones' backroom staff still involved in the England set-up after Borthwick replaced the Australian in December.
But his role was reduced from being forwards coach to overseeing the scrum.
Wigglesworth and Walters are the latest members of Borthwick's coaching team at Leicester to join his England staff, with the former Red Rose captain taking defence chief Kevin Sinfield with him when he accepted the England job.
Cockerill was previously head coach of Toulon in France.
"Having coached and played in France previously, my family and I always had aspirations to return. This opportunity presented itself some time ago and it was too hard to turn down," Cockerill said.
Cockerill will replace Olivier Azam at Montpellier, under head coach Philippe Saint-Andre who welcomed the recruitment of a "world class coach".
Borthwick's reign as England boss started with a third successive defeat by Scotland in their Six Nations opener on Saturday.
England continue their campaign at home to Italy on Sunday.
P. Duarte--JDB
