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Rugby: Borthwick to leave England role with Ryles joining as skills coach

England Team Announcement Press Conference

(Reuters) - England assistant coach Steve Borthwick will leave his position at the end of the season with Melbourne Storm coach Jason Ryles set to join Eddie Jones' backroom staff in November, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) said on Monday.

The 40-year-old Borthwick, appointed by head coach Jones as his lieutenant in Dec. 2015, will change roles from forwards coach to skills coach for England's Six Nations campaign starting against France on Feb. 2.

During former international Borthwick's tenure as coach, England won two Six Nations titles including a Grand Slam in 2016 and were runners-up to South Africa in the World Cup in Japan last year.

"I'm very proud of what we've achieved as a team since 2016, culminating in a Rugby World Cup final last year," Borthwick said in a statement.

"Having come back from the Japan, spent time with my family and reflected on my time with England, I have decided to step away from the role towards the end of the season."

Jones, who has already appointed Matt Proudfoot and Simon Amor as his new assistants, said England would miss the services of Borthwick.

"He created a great lineout for England and really developed the young guys. If you look at someone like Maro Itoje, he's become a world-class lock under Steve," Jones added.

"He has also turned our maul into a weapon for us and he's done brilliant work co-ordinating the England programme. We will miss him greatly.

"We're really pleased that Jason will be joining us as skills coach... he has worked intermittently with us over the last few years so has a good awareness of the setup."

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)