Richard Wigglesworth and Aled Walters will leave Leicester Tigers at the end of the season to join England as Steve Borthwick continues his backroom overhaul by gutting his former club.
Wigglesworth and Walters, the latter a world champion from his time as South Africa's head of athletic performance, will join Borthwick and Kevin Sinfield in time for the 2023 World Cup.
Wigglesworth, who would appear to be taking over from Nick Evans as attack coach with England, joined Tigers as a player ahead of the 2020-21 season. He made 43 appearances for the club, including starting in last season's Premiership final win, before retiring midway through the current campaign upon being appointed as the interim head coach when Borthwick and Sinfield left for England.
Walters, renowned as a charismatic and galvanising presence, joined the club at the same time as Borthwick, in the summer of 2020 while the 2019-20 was suspended due to Covid.
Speaking about Wigglesworth and Walters, Leicester Tigers chief executive officer Andrea Pinchen said: "Richard and Aled have been key figures at the club in recent seasons in very different ways and, while disappointed to be saying farewell to them at season's end, thank them for their efforts on and off the field at Leicester Tigers."
"It has been a great privilege to have had both represent and be a part of Leicester Tigers. Their professionalism and leadership shone through when we were forced into changes to our coaching team halfway through a season and they took on more responsibilities, which we are grateful to both for and look forward to continuing to have as part of Leicester Tigers for the remainder of this campaign.
"In the same way that we want to see our players be as successful as possible and achieve accolades at all levels the game, we want our coaches and staff to achieve this as well. The appointment of Leicester Tigers coaches to senior international roles is not only a testament to their hard work and ability, but a great badge of honour for this club.
"We wish both of them all the best for the next chapter in their career and, as they have throughout their tenures at Tigers, know that they are fully committed to finishing their time with the club successfully."
In a statement on Monday afternoon, Leicester explained that they had "identified a shortlist of replacements" and were "nearing the conclusion of the interview stage with candidates".
"As we have stated before now, we began the process of identifying candidates for the Leicester Tigers head coach role at the beginning of the current campaign when we felt there was a chance Steve Borthwick would be targeted by the national side," Pinchen added.
"That process has been ongoing for a number of months, from which we narrowed down to a shortlist and are nearing the end of the interview process with those candidates. We will be taking the time we feel necessary to get the best possible people in to lead Leicester Tigers from next season into the future.
"Leicester Tigers is not a club that is interested in having a transition period and are firmly focused on ensuring that this club has the very best coaching available to our players to deliver success on the pitch for our supporters, partners and community."
Wigglesworth's official title will be assistant coach, whereas Walters will be head of strength and conditioning. Borthwick will also need to replace Richard Cockerill as scrum coach and Tom Harrison, another valued member of the Tigers set-up, could be under consideration.
Leicester experienced a coaching overhaul before Borthwick guided the East Midlands club to the Premiership title last season. Rob Taylor, Mike Ford and Geordan Murphy were among those to leave, for various reasons, between the arrival of Borthwick and Tigers' triumph over Saracens at Twickenham.
