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Cockerill linked with England role after cafe meeting with Jones

(Photo by Bill Murray/SNS Group via Getty Images)

Out-of-work Richard Cockerill is likely to quickly shed that status amid alleged widespread interest in his credentials, not only in France but at home in England where he reportedly met up at a Leicestershire cafe on Tuesday with the national team boss Eddie Jones who is seeking to flesh out his threadbare backroom staff. 

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It was just July 19 when Cockerill, the respected former Leicester coach, decided his career would be best served by calling time on his progressive stint at Edinburgh, the PRO14 club he joined in 2017 and where he was contracted until 2023 having signed an extension last year.

The 50-year-old ex-England hooker, who was swiftly replaced at Murrayfield by Mike Blair, said ten days ago: “Having had constructive conversations with Jim Mallinder and Mark Dodson post-season it was agreed that we would come to an agreement where I would leave the club by mutual consent to pursue other opportunities.”

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Matt Stevens, Ryan Wilson and Max Lahiff guest on the latest RugbyPass Offload

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Matt Stevens, Ryan Wilson and Max Lahiff guest on the latest RugbyPass Offload

Those ‘other opportunities’ could include a step-up to the Test arena with England ahead of the 2023 World Cup in France. Amid reports that head analyst Joe Lewis has now also left for personal reasons, the RFU announced last Friday that defence coach John Mitchell will leave following the autumn internationals for a role at Wasps.

Jones also still has other positions available as Simon Amor left as attack coach after the underwhelming 2021 Guinness Six Nations, while skills coach Jason Ryles cut his ties after he decided not to join up from Australia due to Covid concerns.

This has left Jones with scrum guru Matt Proudfoot as his only full-time assistant and The Telegraph have reported that the England boss met Cockerill earlier this week. The newspaper read: “Jones has met Cockerill, who left his role as head coach of Edinburgh by mutual consent last week, at a cafe in Leicestershire. A close source said that Cockerill was ‘definitely in the frame’ for an unspecified role with England, although he is understood to be considering all his options and there is interest from Top 14 clubs.”

It was The Rugby Paper that initially suggested last Sunday that Cockerill’s sudden availability could pique the interest of England and The Telegraph report has confirmed that Jones hasn’t hung about in sounding out his fellow former front-rower who left Leicester in January 2017, going on to spend a few months at Toulon with Mike Ford before signing for Edinburgh. 

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Cockerill hasn’t been the only name linked with Jones’ England as Wasps attack coach Martin Gleeson has been touted for a switch since April while Worcester’s new defence and kicking coach Mark Jones, the ex-Wales player who helped coached the Crusaders to Super Rugby titles, has also been mentioned as another possible recruit. 

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SK 52 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

The way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.

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