Edinburgh have appointed former Ulster coach South African Alan Solomons as their new head coach, the club have confirmed.
The Springboks' former assistant coach will begin at Murrayfield on August 9th as he replaces Irishman Michael Bradley.
He will be joined by Stevie Scott, whose work as interim head coach has been rewarded with the offer to become the club's full-time forwards coach.
Solomons said: “This is a very exciting role at a club which has a huge amount of potential.
“The ambition and desire of everyone involved with the club to do whatever it takes to build its success, and the plans being put in place to achieve that, are very impressive.
“I’m very much looking forward to arriving in Edinburgh, teaming up with Stevie [Scott] and meeting the challenges head on.”
Solomons was assistant coach during the Springbok’s record run of 17 victories, which included an unbeaten Tri Nations success in 1998 and record wins over Scotland, France and Wales.
It was during this time that he coached the Western Province to successive Currie Cup Premier division finals, winning the first of those deciders in 1997, while he also took the Stormers to the Super 12 semi-final in 1999, before beginning an impressive three-year term at Ulster in 2001.
The Irish side reached the knockout rounds of the Celtic League every year Solomons was at the helm, twice made the Celtic Cup final – lifting the trophy in 2003 – and enjoyed a three-year unbeaten home record in the Heineken Cup, which lifted the club’s European ranking from 37th to 10th.
He was employed as a high performance consultant for the IRB from 2007 to 2011 before taking the Eastern Province to three successive Currie Cup division one finals, winning the Cup in 2010 and 2012, and lifting the IRB Nations Cup under the guise of shadow international side, the South Africa Kings.
He was then appointed director of rugby with the Southern Kings for their maiden Super Rugby season before securing his move to Murrayfield.
Edinburgh Rugby managing director, David Davies, said: "I'm delighted to confirm the appointment of such experienced, respected and passionate coaches.
“In addition to attracting the undeniable quality in Alan Solomons, I’m very pleased to retain the services of Stevie Scott, whose work on and off the field in pre-season has been exceptional.
“I’m confident they will provide the foundations for our long-term objective of becoming a force on the domestic and European stage.”
