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London - Former Wallaby Glen Ella will join England's backroom staff as skills coach during their three-Test tour of Australia in June, the Rugby Football Union announced Thursday.
Ella and England's Australian head coach Eddie Jones both played in the same side at Sydney club Randwick and worked together when Jones was in charge of the Wallaby side that lost the 2003 World Cup final to England.
Ella's appointment adds to the Randwick influence on the series, with Australia coach Michael Cheika having also made his name as a player with the 'Galloping Greens'.
One of three brothers, including gifted fly-half Mark, who all won international honours, Glen Ella has been brought on board by Jones in a bid to sharpen up England's back-line play.
Jones became England coach after Australia knocked the hosts out of last year's World Cup with a convincing 33-13 victory at Twickenham in October.
Under Jones, England recovered to win this season's Six Nations with a grand slam but there was a feeling they too often let tries go begging.
Ella, who made his coaching debut as assistant coach with Bob Dwyer's Wallabies side during the 1995 Rugby World Cup and has since worked with several international teams, including Fiji, Canada Italy, Japan and Papua New Guinea, said he was looking forward to what the RFU stressed was a "temporary appointment" by joining forces again with fellow 56-year-old Jones.
"I'm delighted to be teaming up with Eddie again and working alongside the rest of the coaching staff," said Ella in the RFU statement.
"Eddie's got England moving in the right direction, but there's still a lot of work to be done, particularly in attack. I'm looking forward to being involved in an exciting series of Test rugby," added Ella, who won four Australia caps at full-back between 1982-85.
Meanwhile Jones said: "We're very happy that Glen will be joining up with us out in Australia.
"Glen has coached rugby all around the world and not only brings with him a wealth of experience, but also has one of the best attacking minds in the business," added Jones, a hooker in a Randwick side which featured Glen, Mark and Gary Ella, a centre.
"Working alongside myself and the rest of the coaching team Glen will assist me in developing our attack play strategies and also provide some specialist backs skills coaching.
"It's an area we know we need to improve and I'm sure we'll benefit greatly from having Glen on board for the tour," added Jones, who enhanced his coaching reputation by guiding Japan to a shock World Cup win over rugby giants South Africa last year.
England's series against Australia starts in Brisbane on June 11, with the remaining two Tests in Melbourne (June 18) and Sydney (June 25).
