Birth name | Richard Cockerill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 16 December 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Rugby, Warwickshire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 104 kg (16 st 5 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Harris School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970)[1] is an English rugby union coach and former player and since January 2024 has been the Head Coach of the Georgian National Rugby Team. Prior to this he was the manager of Top 14 side Montpellier. He was the England 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 England 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,[2] 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.[3]
He left Edinburgh when his contract expired in 2021 and was appointed to Eddie Jones' England coaching staff.
After Eddie Jones, Cockerill was appointed interim England coach in 2022.