Coaches George Graham (forwards) and Alan Tait (defence) will join head coach Frank Hadden, analyst Gavin Scott and team manager Guy Richardson in national team duties from next week.

Hadden said: Everything we do from here on in is geared towards delivering a special performance at the World Cup this coming autumn.

At the end of this seasons autumn Tests we conducted a review and concluded that to continue to progress we need to bolster our national management team, to ensure that our preparations for the World Cup are as good as they can possibly be.

George and Alan have been integral to the national management team and their influence on the players displays since May 2005, where we have won nine out of 16 games, cannot be under-estimated.

I am very pleased that they will now be working on the national team, preparing our players for the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations Championship, then our warm-up matches, before the World Cup kicks off in September.

Their appointment will also ensure that we leave no stone unturned in our analysis of our World Cup opponents.

Former internationalists Graham and Tait have worked with the national management team part-time alongside their duties with their pro-team, Border Reivers, since Hadden took on national coach duties 19 months ago.

Hadden added: It is equally important that in making these appointments we do everything possible to ensure that the Border Reivers are well equipped to continue to play to the best of their ability in this World Cup year.

Players winning at pro-team level is also good news for our World Cup preparations and we assure Reivers supporters that we have gone down this road because we have every confidence in the coaching abilities of George and Alan and also because we have great respect for the individuals who will take on their duties with their pro-team.