Felix Jones quits as defence coach of England

England have been hit with another setback as defence coach Felix Jones has left his position just seven months in the role.

The decision follows after strength and conditioning coach Aled Walters also left Steve Borthwick's backroom staff to join Ireland.

Jones has played 13 Tests for Ireland between 2011 and 2015 following which he joined Munster as Technical coach in 2016. He later took over as backs coach with the Irish province before joining South Africa as a coaching consultant between 2019 and 2023.

He was also part of the South African coaching set up that went on to win the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups in Japan and France respectively following which he joined England replacing Kevin Sinfield.

Jones' desire to leave is believed to be connected to Walters' departure, as the two had developed a strong working relationship while working together under Erasmus at Munster and later with South Africa.

The only confirmed members of Borthwick’s management team for the November internationals at this time are attack coach Richard Wigglesworth, scrum coach Tom Harrison, and coaching consultant Andrew Strawbridge.

England's next fixtures will be home matches against New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Japan in November.