Mowen will captain the Wallabies for the second time when they play England at Twickenham on Sunday morning, following coach Ewen McKenzie's decision to axe James Horwill. The Brumbies announced a coaching overhaul on Friday, appointing Stephen Larkham as new head coach and Laurie Fisher as the director of rugby.

Larkham endorsed Mowen as the man to continue as Brumbies captain after starting the job two years ago.

It's unclear whether Mowen is viewed as a long-term Test skipper, but Larkham insisted the 28-year-old could handle both captaincy roles.

Past Brumbies captains have stepped aside as the ACT leader to ease the workload when they have also taken on the Wallabies captaincy duties.

''Ben will be the captain … in terms of the load of the leadership I think Benny really relishes what he does,'' Larkham said. ''He does a really good job, you don't want to cloud it with too many different opinions or different voices.

''You still want that strong message from that one person. We've got other great leaders who can step up … as well.''

George Gregan and Stirling Mortlock relinquished their Brumbies captaincy duties to lighten the work load of being Wallabies skipper at the same time.

Stephen Hoiles was the Brumbies' captain when Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom was also in the ACT line-up.

Mowen made his Test debut in June, but has already established himself as a Test leader.

When Mowen returns to Canberra, he'll have to get used to a new coaching set-up.

Larkham will be head coach and focused on rugby, recruitment and squad management.

As director of rugby, Fisher will be in charge of the high performance program, pathways and Brumbies behaviour and culture.

Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan said the club initially wanted to stick with a traditional coaching structure.

''The process has been comprehensive, we looked more traditionally to start,'' Fagan said. ''But it quickly became apparent that by using this structure, which is more common in Europe, we could achieve outcomes we feel maximise strengths of respective coaches.''

Larkham and Fisher will work in collaboration on almost everything, but they have defined roles that separate their jobs.

Both have signed two-year deals to stay with the club. Gregan is expected to return as a consultant coach while the Brumbies are looking for an assistant coach. Former Tuggeranong Vikings mentor Dan McKellar is in contention for the assistant's job. Larkham will stay in charge of the back line while Fisher will look after the forward pack.

When picking a side, Larkham will pick the backs and Fisher will pick the forwards. They have different titles, but their roles reflect a co-coaching set-up.

''It's different to co-coaching, we do have different responsibilities,'' Fisher said. ''It's co-coaching in terms of we coach together and we've done that for the last two years and will for the next two.

''There's a little bit more leadership for Steve in rugby and a bit more for me away from the field.''

Fisher likened the relationship to a marriage. ''You've got to work at it. We sit two metres from each other, you're obliged to talk about things,'' Fisher said. ''Whether it's a marriage or a rugby program, if you're not talking about it then you'll struggle.''

Larkham said there would be ''robust discussions'' and ''whoever argues the best point'' will succeed.

Larkham played more than 100 games for the Brumbies and won two Super Rugby championships.