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England have appointed Leicester’s Steve Borthwick as new head coach of the men’s national team, nine months before the World Cup begins in France.
The 43-year-old is joined by defence coach Kevin Sinfield, who he has worked with at Leicester since 2021.
Borthwick has been favourite to take the role since Eddie Jones was sacked and joins on a five-year contract.
“I want the whole country to be proud of us and to enjoy watching us play,” said Borthwick.
The former England captain’s first match in charge will be the Six Nations opener against Scotland on 4 February and the Rugby Football Union said the rest of his coaching team would be announced “in the coming weeks”.
Borthwick and England will return to Twickenham for that match trying to regain the confidence of fans, with some booing after a 27-13 defeat by South Africa in November.
At Leicester, Richard Wigglesworth will end his playing career to step in as the club’s interim head coach.
When Borthwick took over at Leicester in 2020, the club were struggling at the bottom of the Premiership, but he improved their fortunes to lead them to their first top-flight title in nine years last season.
Having worked as Jones’ assistant with Japan and then England, he was expected to take the reins after the 2023 World Cup – but that date was brought forward after the side’s poor run of form, as they won five of 12 Tests in 2022.
Borthwick’s contract will run until the end of 2027 – taking England through two World Cups.
“I’m deeply honoured to be appointed England head coach, and I am very excited by the challenge,” Borthwick said.
“The English game is full of talent and I want to build a winning team which makes the most of our huge potential and inspires young people to fall in love with rugby union the way I did.
“The hard work starts now and planning for the Guinness Six Nations and Rugby World Cup begins today. I will give it everything.”
Borthwick was part of the coaching team on the British and Irish Lions’ tour of New Zealand in 2017, which resulted in a drawn Test series.
As a player, he was a lock for Saracens and Bath, earning 57 England caps before retiring in 2014.
Rugby league great Sinfield joined Borthwick at Leicester as defence coach before the start of the 2021-22 season.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney described Borthwick as “our first-choice successor to Eddie”.
“Steve and Kevin’s insight and first-hand knowledge of the players will be a great asset and everyone at the RFU is right behind them with our full support,” Sweeney continued.
Off the pitch, Sinfield has raised more than £7m for charity in support of ex-Leeds team-mate Rob Burrow, who has Motor Neurone Disease.
“It is a special moment to join England as a coach,” Sinfield said.
“There is so much player talent in England and I am really looking forward to working with the wider squad of players to see what we can achieve together, especially with such a massive year ahead of us. “
‘Borthwick has no time to waste’ – analysis
BBC rugby union correspondent Chris Jones
Borthwick’s appointment has been accelerated by Eddie Jones’ sacking, and rather than going to the Rugby World Cup as a shadow member of the coaching team – as had been the plan – he will now be the main man in France.
He has no time to waste. As well as finalising the make-up of his coaching team, there are a matter of weeks before he will need to pick his Six Nations squad, and it would be no surprise if he leaned on a Leicester core which served him so well at Welford Road.
Scotland will be a challenge in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham, as they have dominated the Calcutta Cup in recent years, but that match, followed by another home game against Italy, is a kind pair of fixtures to get the new regime up and running, and quell the unrest from the supporters that was so evident at the end of the autumn.
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