But he takes over at Warrington with the club bottom of the table after three straight defeats at the start of Super League XIV.
"I'm excited about this," he said. "It's a very big club with a very big future.
"I've had a desire to coach at club level again so when this came about, my fear was that maybe I'd miss out on a great opportunity."
The Australian, who became a British citizen before last year's World Cup, appointed Lowes to his England backroom staff in 2007 but the former Bradford and Great Britain hooker left the role in order to concentrate on his new position at Warrington.
The Wolves have lost their last eight matches going back to last August and were booed off the pitch following their recent home defeat by Catalans Dragons.
Ironically, their next match is against Leeds on Sunday.
England endured a disappointing World Cup campaign with a record loss to Australia and two defeats by eventual winners New Zealand, including in the semi-final.
Smith was criticised in many quarters for the lacklustre performances from his team, whose only win came in their opening game against Papua New Guinea.
Richard Lewis, the RFL's executive chairman, said: "Tony indicated to us in January his desire to return to club coaching at the end of his contract which runs until the end of 2009.
"This has been factored into our World Cup review, which we will report back on in April, and our new structural plans for our Performance and Coaching departments.
"The only thing that has changed since January is the timetable with Tony asking to be relieved of his duties as technical director sooner rather then later so that he can get back into club coaching.
"All parties are pleased that Tony will remain as England coach on a part-time basis and we are confident that he remains the right man to lead them into this autumn's Four Nations tournament."
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