Matt Proudfoot’s confirmed exit as England forwards coach is one of several changes to new boss Steve Borthwick’s support staff.

Borthwick was hired to replace the sacked Eddie Jones in December as the English RU looked for a coaching reset after a miserable run in 2022.

With the Six Nations and then the Rugby World Cup looming this year, Proudfoot has departed as Borthwick prepares his own coaching team ahead of a hectic campaign.

Proudfoot, a SA-born former Scotland prop, took on the forwards coach role in January 2020 after Neal Hatley’s departure to Bath, having served as an assistant for the Springboks in their 2019 World Cup victory.

The 50-year-old will take charge of the Stellenbosch University rugby team in the 2023 Varsity Cup.

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The RFU also announced Brett Hodgson and Danny Kerry had left the England coaching team.

Their departures mean that Borthwick will have an all-English set of assistant coaches: Kevin Sinfield, Richard Cockerill and Martin Gleeson.

Cockerill, the forwards coach, and Gleeson, the attack coach, are the only two survivors from the Jones era and are said to be popular with the players.

Borthwick’s first appointment in his new role was to bring in Sinfield as defence coach.

© Agence France-Presse

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