Warren Gatland will reportedly not include any members of England's coaching staff in his set-up for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa this summer.
The former Wales coach is set to name the coaching ticket next week for his third Lions tour as head coach, but reports say that none of Eddie Jones' assistants will be involved.
The Guardian report that England defence coach John Mitchell and forwards coach Matt Proudfoot are set to be overlooked, despite both understood to have been under consideration by Gatland.
England coach Jones had said in December that he would encourage his assistants to join the Lions staff if asked, confirming “there had been contact”, but it would seem Gatland is looking elsewhere.
The report adds that Gatland's coaching staff will likely be made up of Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend as his attack coach, Steve Borthwick in charge of forwards, Graham Rowntree looking after the scrum and Neil Jenkins involved in the kicking.
Defence coach is a little less certain reportedly, with Ireland coach Andy Farrell seemingly the favourite - having held the position under Gatland.
Despite Farrell, Borthwick and Rowntree all being former England internationals, this would be the first time since 1997 that the Lions coaching staff would not feature a current member of the England set-up.
That could potentially have a knock-on effect for the number of English players selected - especially after a sub-par Six Nations that saw Jones' side lose to each of the other home nations and stumble to a fifth-place finish.
