Ritchie 'worth every penny' - Cockerill

England RFU chief Ian Ritchie is "worth every penny" of his £600,000 salary, according to Richard Cockerill.

Leicester Tigers director Cockerill insists chief executive Ritchie "runs the business very well", following the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) announcement that Twickenham revenues exceeded £200million for the first time this year. 

Ritchie's position has been under immense scrutiny since vowing to take responsibility for England's disastrous World Cup performance, only for head coach Stuart Lancaster to relinquish his role while the former Wimbledon boss stayed on.

England became the worst-performing hosts in World Cup history by crashing out of the tournament at the pool stages, but Cockerill has come out and stated his belief that the RFU's top administrator continues to merits his hefty pay cheque.

"If you're making a profit of £200million, he's probably worth every penny," said Cockerill.

"Oh 100 per cent you should separate what happens on and off the pitch.

"The business is clearly very profitable, he's clearly in charge of that business. 

"I think everybody should shake his hand and say 'well done'.

"He's an important man, clearly a very intelligent man and he runs the business very well.

Eddie Jones officially began his tenure as England’s new head coach on Tuesday, with the record revenue figure of £207.9million underscoring once again the RFU's position as the richest union in world rugby.

Official RFU revenues increased by £51.7million from the £156.2million figure recorded last year. 

Jones must now work quickly to be ready to select his first Elite Player Squad (EPS) in early January.

In addition, the former Japan coach has big decisions to make over the English captaincy and who to appoint as his backroom staff.

Lancaster's assistants Andy Farrell, Graham Rowntree and Mike Catt should learn their fates shortly. Jones has carte blanche to wield the RFU's chequebook to build his preferred coaching line-up. 

And Tigers boss Cockerill believes Jones would be "silly" not to at least consider the merits of adding experienced English coaches to his backroom staff and that recruiting from the Premiership could prove a shrewd move.

"There are a lot of good, English coaches that are plying their trade as directors of rugby or assistant coaches," said Cockerill.

"And they have a lot of experience of the Premiership, the players and northern hemisphere rugby.

"I know Eddie's coached at club level in England.

"But I think it would sensible to look at that. Whether the right people are available, or that's the right balance or mix, I don't know.

"There's a lot of good, young talent within the English coaching set-ups within the clubs, and it would probably be silly at least not to have a look at those, because there's some good skill-sets there."