Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970) is an English rugby union coach and former player, he was the national team's interim head coach between Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick. He played as a hooker, spending the majority of his career at Leicester Tigers where he played 255 games over two spells, he won 27 caps for and was included in the 1999 Rugby World Cup squad. He won five league titles, two European Cups and two domestic cups as a player. Following his retirement from playing in 2005 Cockerill became Leicester's forwards coach, becoming head coach in 2009. He led Leicester to Premiership titles in 2009 and 2010, his first two years in charge, and a third title in 2013. After leaving Leicester he joined Toulon in 2017 on a temporary basis but succeeded in taking them to the final of the 2016-17 Top 14 season where they lost to Clermont. In 2017 he was named as the head coach of Guinness Pro14 side Edinburgh Rugby, leading them to the Pro 14 playoffs for the first time. He extended his contract in April 2018 to remain as head coach with Edinburgh until 2021. He left Edinburgh when his contract expired in 2021 and was appointed to Eddie Jones' coaching staff. After Eddie Jones, Cockerill was appointed interim England coach in 2022. Playing career Cockerill was born in Rugby. Joining Leicester Tigers, he established himself as the B of the "ABC club" alongside Graham Rowntree (A) and Darren Garforth (C). Cockerill was an unused replacement for both the 2001 and 2002 Heineken Cup finals. He made his England debut against Argentina in 1997 and later his first match at Twickenham was as a half-time replacement for the Bath hooker Andy Long in Clive Woodward's first match in charge against the Wallabies; Long was young and clearly out of his depth. Cockerill's performance earned him a starting place against New Zealand, where he stood up to Norm Hewitt during the haka (see book cover). A dip in form led him to lose his first choice hooking position at Leicester to Dorian West. He was also dropped from the England side after criticising Woodward in his book entitled In Your Face. He subsequently moved to France, but signed again for Leicester for the 2004–05 season. Coaching career In 2005 he was appointed forwards coach at Leicester Tigers succeeding John Wells. Cockerill served as