The former All Black international and Samoa coach Alama Ieremia will coach the Auckland provincial side for the next three years.
The 47 year old Ieremia swapped the boots for the clipboard not long after his final game in Japan in 2004.
He's had coaching stints at Japan club Suntory under Eddie Jones, was Wellington assistant coach under Jamie Joseph in 2007 and between 2009-14 was Hurricanes assistant coach under firstly Colin Cooper then Mark Hammett.
Alama Ieremia Photo: Photosport
He took up the head coaching role with Samoa in 2016 but resigned in August after four successive losses with Samoa finishing last in the Pacific Nations cup and their world ranking slipping to 16th - its lowest ever.
Ieremia will take up his new role with Auckland in the New Year.
As a player, Ieremia was a hard-running midfielder who played 40 games for the All Blacks, including 30 tests, from 1994-2000, while he turned out for Manu Samoa on five occasions in 1992-93, making him one of just a handful of players to wear the colours of both Manu Samoa and the All Blacks.
One of his claims to fame was scoring the first ever Super Rugby try for the Hurricanes against the Blues in 1996.
In all, he played 65 games for Wellington, winning the 2000 NPC first division title in his last season, and 42 for the Hurricanes from 1996-2000 before rounding out his playing days in Japan.
"Auckland is a proud and passionate union and are committed to creating a successful future. The Mitre 10 Cup campaign is something I'm familiar with. It's a short and sharp competition.
"I'll be looking at how to bring our Under 19 success through and mix that with the Super Rugby talent that we have. There's a lot of depth, and it's exciting coming into an environment where you can put that together," said Ieremia.
RNZ
