Steve Borthwick will be confirmed as England’s new head coach on Monday, the PA news agency understands.
Borthwick has been recruited from Leicester Tigers where he has acted as director of rugby since 2020, steering the club to last season’s Gallagher Premiership title victory.
The deal that takes the 43-year-old Cumbrian to Twickenham was finalised on Sunday morning and he will be officially announced as Eddie Jones’ successor 24 hours later.
Warren Gatland, Ronan O’Gara and Scott Robertson were among the names touted to replace Jones, but Borthwick has been the Rugby Football Union’s overwhelming preference to take over.
A former England captain during his playing days, Borthwick has marked himself out as one of the sport’s bright young coaches in recent times, leading Tigers to their first league title since 2013 earlier this year, having joined the club after they finished 11th in the 2019-20 campaign.
Before taking over at Leicester, he spent five years as England’s forwards coach working for Jones, after three years as assistant coach for Japan towards the end of his playing career - also under the Australian.
Jones was sacked by the RFU earlier in December following the worst year of results for the national team since 2008, climaxing in a dismal autumn campaign, and Borthwick will have no time to waste as he looks to rapidly turn fortunes around with the 2023 Rugby World Cup just nine months away.
As Jones’s former number two, Borthwick is seen as the glue behind the scenes of one of the most successful periods in English rugby history - where the line-out was his main area of expertise, but he also performed the key role of coaching coordinator. His time as forwards coach for the national team included a grand slam, another Six Nations title and a World Cup final appearance.
A tough second-row who played his entire professional career at Bath and Saracens, he amassed 57 caps for England and served as captain for the last two years of his time as an international.
Borthwick’s first match in charge will be the Six Nations opener against Scotland on 4 February, before a home game against Italy the following week and then a trip to Wales a fortnight later.
